River of Stars
by spirit-mage-234
Summary: In a mystical Japan, Kaoru is the Princess of Birds, a princess of Heaven. She runs away from Heaven to escape forced love, but when she gets amnesia on Earth, will the mysterious and kindly Kenshin help her find true love and her way in life?
1. Preface

**Preface**

_(This is basically just a long author's note. If you don't feel like reading, just skip to chapter one.)_

Every continent - or even the world - has that folk story or myth that's practically, everywhere. Like, Cinderella, the phoenix, dragons, etc. But this one certain story is centralized in Far East Asia. It's called "The Princess and the Cow Herder". The first version of this tale popped up in China, but there are also variations in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Many variations, many names, so I'll stick to the basic story:

In heaven, the supreme god had a beautiful daughter who was known for her beauty and weaving skills. Every day, she would go down to earth with her weaved robe and bathe there. One day, a cow hearder spotted her while bathing, and he instantly fell in love with her. He saw her robes by the bank, and then took them and hid it. When the maiden went to look for her robes, the cow herder took her back to his home. Over time, the maiden falls in love with the herder, and then they were married. One day, she found a piece of cloth that matched her robes and it was revealed that her husband took her robes. She then returned to heaven, but was forbidden from ever seeing her husband again by her father. He separated the two lovers through a river of stars (the Milky Way). The maiden wept for days and days, and her father soon came to pity her. He decided he would let the two lovers reunite once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month.

That's the loose story basis. It's not entirely acurate since the variation of the story changes from country to country. In one Chinese version, the maiden was the youngest of many sisters, and they all descended to Earth to bathe, when the cow herded came and spotted them and took their robes. When they found out, they sent the youngest (and of course, most beautiful) sister to retrieve the robes, where the man then fell deeply in love with the maiden, and took her away. In a Japanese version, the two lovers met accordingly, and had many children together. The maiden found the robes, and told her husband that he was forgiven, but in order to see her again, he had to weave 1000 straw slippers. He never completed the task, and he never saw her again (though I think they reunited in heaven). In a Korean and Vietnamese version, the cow herder was part of the pantheon and was brought to the maiden by her father in order to make her happy. However, her weavings went unattended and his herd went unwatched, and they were soon separated. Also, in many versions, after the lovers were wed, the maiden began to feel homesick and missed her father, and then found the robes, letting her be able to see her father. In this variation, the father from heaven found out about his daughter's love affair with the mortal, and wanted to intervene but could not because of the river of stars separating heaven from earth. Lastly, in many versions, the two lovers meet at opposite ends of the river, but cannot cross it, and begin to weep. The nearby animals hear the two lovers' dispair, so the birds build a bridge (sometimes from twigs, sometimes their own bodies) so the lovers can cross it.

So those are the variations... and each of these countries has a festival commemorating the story. In China, it is called Qi Xi, Japan, Tanabata, Korea, Chilseok, and Vietnam, it is Ngay mua ngau. Each is basically a Valentine's day of sorts (as you guys remember, a cute episode of Kenshin was taken place on Tanabata ), and it is said that if it rains on that day, the lovers are crying from being reunited, though it sometimes means that they are crying because the have to depart.

"The Princess and the Cow Herder" is as popular as the variations of the "Cinderella" story, and the story has inspired many stories of today, such as "Ayashi no Ceres" by Yuu Watase and the novel "Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart. I recommend both titles.

So this story will be loosely based off of the tale. So I hope you guys will enjoy yet another fairy tale variation for the Rurouni Kenshin series.

Until further notice, the rating will be "T". It won't be smutty, just some intimacy, and perhaps brief violence.

(And don't worry. i'm still working on "Beauty and Battousai)


	2. Descent to Earth The First Bridge

**Chapter 1: Descent to Earth (The First Bridge)**

All she could do was keep running. Just run and run as far as her feet could carry her. But she couldn't for very long. Kaoru leaned against a tree, and gasped. She tried to keep the tears in but could not. Bringing a piece of peach and white cloth from her clothing, she dried her tears the best she could. The heavens would have her head if they found out that she was using such a delicate piece of tapestry to dry her tears, but Kaoru could care less. The weaved cloth was what got her into this situation in the first place.

She was known throughout Heaven for not only her beauty, but her beautiful weavings. She worked diligently on her weavings, which her father took to notice. It was most definately a skill that was passed from her beautiful mother, who was said to be the descendant of the one who weaved the threads of time. As beautiful as his daughter was - and as beautiful as her weavings were - there was a hint of lonliness that he noticed in all of her weavings, including her dazzling sapphire eyes, which were bedazzled by the

stars that her father set in her pools of blue. The King of Stars knew of his daughter's lonliness. Although she was the youngest of eight, Kaoru never interacted with her sisters much, for reasons unknown to her father. He could not bear to see his favorite with such sadness blurring the sparkle of the stars in her eyes. As the King of Stars, he refused, and as King he sought out a solution, whether she liked it or not.

Kaoru knew that her father felt her burden: she admitted that she was bored and lonely with only her weavings to accompany her, so Kaoru knew that her father was only trying to help, albeit it seemed he was equally concerned with the productivity of her magnificent weavings.

She knew he did it because he loved her.

But to love her so much that her so called "happiness" would be at the expense of the little that remained within her?

How could her own father arrange her to marry Prince Enishi, the son of her father's lead general, without her knowledge? Surely she knew of arranged marriages happening in both Heaven and Earth, but she never imagined her father doing what he had done to his own daughter. Her father had not failed in selecting a prospect groom for his daughter: Enishi was incredibly handsome, smart, and was one of the top skilled swordsmen in his father's army. He was well liked and the maidens of Heaven all yearned for the warrior to ask for their hand in marriage. Enishi was polite to the ladies, though at the same time, flourished on the attention they all showered him, and so, his ego flourished as well. The airheaded girls didn't care to bother: they found his egoism attractive. So Kaoru knew very well what Enishi was like, despite his best efforts to mask such "flaws" when he was officially presented to Kaoru as her betrothed. Though Kaoru didn't think much of Enishi she couldn't help but slightly blush when Enishi bowed, took her hand, and then gave it a featherlight kiss. The thought of his lips on hers floated in her mind for a split second.

But she knew she could never feel that way towards Enishi, even if she tried.

She didn't love him.

Though she tried her best to not get into the gossipy lives her older sisters, Kaoru couldn't help but listen in on their romantic tales between their suitors, or the local gossip of a newly wed couple who were deeply in love.

Love.

That word had always been an enigma to Kaoru. Was it a feeling as much as it was an emotion? What did it feel like to fall in love, be in love? These were questions that Kaoru hoped to be answered someday, when her weaving could be put to rest. But the heavens were fickle with what they wanted, and they would rather Kaoru have "love" and continue weaving for eternity than Kaoru to have true love and cease in weaving forever. Were her weavings that important? Kaoru had taken up the loom in order to get away from her lonely, boring life, not to cause more turmoil. With her father's concerned yet impertinent eye on her happiness and weavings, and Prince Enishi's eye set on her hand, Kaoru felt more betrayed and more lonely in all of Heaven.

Which was why she came to the decision to go to Earth. Kaoru had heard stories of life on Earth: pestilant, wartorn, hideous. Earth in Heaven's eyes was equal to Hell. Stories of terrestrial being eating ones flesh and raiding homes, slaughtering all who stood in their way was a way of scaring the celestial beings of Heaven from descending to Earth, further separating the two worlds after the War of the Deities a millenium ago. Of course, being Kaoru, she was more curious of the stories than frightened. Where all terrestrial beings brawling sacks of meat who maimed and caused havic everywhere they stepped? She would certainly like to find out, and who knew? Earth could be the safe haven from her father, Prince Enishi - Heaven as a whole - that Kaoru had been looking for.

So it was proven that the stories of Earth made no barrier between Earth and Kaoru. The only thing that stood in her way was the River of Stars: the physical barrier in contrast to the literary barrier. After running for what had seemed hours, Kaoru finally approached the edge of the river. The River of Stars appeared liquid and inviting, but the lusterous surface as not water, but millions of stars that flowed forever from one edge of Heaven to other. There was no bridge: and Kaoru dared not to step into the river. Though the river did look lucious to the bather's eye, the River of Stars was in fact a wall, a wall with a vicious current that would wash anyone who tried to cross over from Heaven to Earth and vice versa away to the void of no return. What was Kaoru to do?

Kaoru breathed and took a step back from the River of Stars, bring her pure hands from her sides and clasping them together in a prayer.

"I call forth from the Heaven I am,  
to the birds who shall create a dam,  
from this side of Heaven to the Earth,  
that will lead me soon to my rebirth."

She waited with her hands still clasped together, waiting for a response. And as soon as she opened her crystal blue eyes, Kaoru heard the beating of a thousand wings, as birds flooded the sky. Each bird - some small, others big, some gentle song birds, others predacious birds of prey - held within its beak a branch - some twigs, others logs. The swarmed toward the river in front of Kaoru, causing Kaoru's robes to flail from the beating of their wings, but none ever touched the princess. One at a time, the birds dropped a twig in precise order from end to other, until a shanty but steady bridge was constructed. Kaoru gazed up at the retreating birds, who had served their purpose toward their princess.

"Thank you, my friends," the princess thanked quietly. With the bridge complete, there was nothing stopping Kaoru, except for the fears of the world beyond bridge that eased their way into her heart, despite her efforts to push them back.

"No Kaoru," she told her self, clenching her fist to her heart. "There is no turning back. Only steps forward."

Kaoru was determined to find her way - if not in this world, then in the next. Would she change her mind once on Earth? Would she find the peace she wanted? Was there a chance she would find true love?

She decided to go through her first trial before forseeing the outcomes of the trials to come. She took one hasty step on the bridge built by the birds, then another, and another, until she reached the last step on the bridge. This step would separate her from her world possibly forever, leaving behind everything that she had ever known. Though it was not as clear as day in her mind, Kaoru was certain with herself that she would not be returning to Heaven once on Earth, so why would she care if she left behind her kingom, her family, her home?

Because she loved them.

But she could not love the decisions that they made for her. Kaoru wanted her life to be more than weaving and pleasing others. She wanted her destiny - and her love - to be in her own hands and heart.

And before she could even contradict her feelings, Kaoru had already taken the final step from Heaven to Earth.

And all she could feel beneath her was nothingness.

* * *

a/n: I'm aware that there is a difference between a "dam" and a "bridge". It's just that I thought of this prayer on the top of my head, and, well, "am" doesn't really rhyme with "bridge" now does it? Sue me.


	3. Through the Forest

**Chapter 2: Through the Forest**

Heavy breaths and darkness were all that Kaoru could feel around her. What had happened? One minute, she was stepping off of the bridge built by the birds, the next, it felt as if she was falling...

Kaoru squinted her eyes tightly and decided to open them. She expect to be floating on nothingness, but instead, she was on solid ground. Cool green grass as a matter of fact. She rubbed her head as she crouched on the grass. Where was she? Was she really on Earth? Turning over and standing up, she saw a spectacular sight: a navy blue sky with millions of glimmering stars. Not that she had never seen this sight before: from her observations of her surroundings, Earth looked exactly like Heaven, but it smelled more, natural. The other things that seemed different from this world from her world was the stream of stars that juted across the sky, and the Moon that was high in the sky instead of in the horizons. That had to be the River of Stars! Had she literally dropped from Heaven onto Earth?

Of course, now that she had seen the River of Stars so far out of reach, there was no way Kaoru could go back home if she wanted to. She could never go back...

Kaoru shook her head. What was she thinking, she didn't want to go back. She was going to find her own way, without anybody looming over her, like how Enishi expected the princess to fall over heels in love with him, how her father watched her weave, and how the whole celestial pantheon expected her weavings to be flawless. Speaking of weaving, Kaoru was surprised that her robes survived the fall, though they had apparent grass stains in them. "Oh well," Kaoru said, "they're only robes... I can make some new ones if I want to..."

But before she could do anything, Kaoru had to figure out where she was. She looked in all directions. She was standing in the middle of a field of tall grass. Behind her, in the distance, were tall mountains, their peaks so jagged that they appeared that they could rip Heaven right out of the sky, which made Kaoru flinch. A few yards in front of her was a forest, lush, tall, and mysterious. Which direction would she go in?

As she stood there, contemplating her first move, a bone-chilling wind swept through her robes. Her robes wear quite thin, concidering that Heaven stayed a constant temperature all year round. Kaoru hugged herself as she decided to go into the forest, where the windchill would not be as severe.

When she approached the edge of the forest, Kaoru felt the same anxiety that she had felt when she was about to take that final step off of the bridge. This was yet another trial that she would have to conquer, all by herself. Kaoru would be independent from now on, as she was not sure if her celestial powers over the birds would work on Earth, so her aviary friends could not help her.

"I will find my own path in life," Kaoru told herself as she crossed the threshold into the bush.

* * *

It seemed as if Kaoru was walking forever in the woods. It was no easy task, walking through thick bushes that snagged on her delicate robes, jagged rocks that ripped at her slippers, and the only available luminance came from the sky above, which was blanketed by the trees. Kaoru was starting to regret her decision - her decision to walk into the woods anyway. The only good that seemed to have come from trekking into this unknown was that she felt slightly less cold from the wind, but the still air was chilly enough. Kaoru shivered and hugged herself tighter as she bit back a curse.

"This isn't working," she said, her method of warming herself clearly wasn't working. Her big toe stumbled on a hard surface, a large rock that laid in her path. Koaru motioned herself to sit on the rock, squeezing her robes as she sat. Extravogent as they were, they seemed to function little purpose on Earth. Even when Heaven did experience the once in a centenium temperature change, her robes always kept her at a stable temperature. Breezy and cool when too hot, cozy and warm when cold. An idea sparked in her mind. Yes, Kaoru was a celestial being, not a terrestrial, and any powers she had proved insignificant on Earth, but she was a deity nonetheless. Kaoru began to think warm thoughts, of those tiny moments in Heaven when she was happy: sitting on her mother's lap, being swayed back and forth, being sung a song by her mother while she combed her small fingers through her long, ebony hair. Those rare moments when she and her sisters would laugh and play while bathing in the celestial hot springs. How she would be enveloped in warmth when her father smiled when he expected her bouquet of moon flowers. Small yet warm memories flushed through her body as her robes got warmer.

"Yes! I do have some powers here!" she exclaimed as her robes continued to radiate heat. So happy Kaoru was when she discovered some present powers still within her, that her exclamation caused excited behind the bushes that laid a few yards behind her. Her hair (which had fallen from its more intricate hair stlye into a loose ponytail upon impact with Earth) whipped her face as she spun her hair around to look. The bushes were rustling, not against the wind, but as if someone or something was moving them. Kaoru bit her lip as she called out, voice quivering.

"Who's there?"

She dreaded the response: low growling. Hungry growling. Kaoru immediately sprang up from her post and began to step back as a trio of wolves emerged from the bushes. Their glowing tapetum and their salavating snouts would case any unarmed lower being to utterly stop in their path, and except defeat. Would Kaoru fall to the same fate as so may others have before? Had her powers been strong enough on Earth, Kaoru could have reasoned with them, since only the birds were at her indirect command. But she was virtually powerless at their paws, so all she could do was turn around and run as fast as her worn slippers would allow her.

Through puddles and bushes Kaoru ran, ripping her robes and loosing her slippers all together. Her lost slippers put her at an advantage, since they often caused her to trip on her own feet as she ran. But the robes still halted her movement, and the wolves saw this to their advantage. One wolf managed to grab a segment of her robes in its jaws, ripping the cloth but not the tender flesh that it desired. The snag caused Kaoru to trip forward, loosing all of her balance and causing her to fall toward the ground on her face. She capsized on her back, to face the trio that was slowly closing in on her. Kaoru didn't dare to turn her backs on the pack of wild canines in order to rise up; if she did, it would be all over, and not one trace of her being would be left for Heaven or Earth to see. But her current position did not give her much hope either. She scurried as quickly as she could backwards away from the wolves. They snipped at her bare, muddy, and cut feet, trying to grab a taste of her blood, or if lucky, a toe. Kaoru tried to kick her foot in their face to halt their movement, but she could not without stopping altogether. Her body tired and her heart beating fast from adreneline, Kaoru was at her witt's end: would her life end at the hands of the animals that she admired so much?

Perhaps her witt's were not at their end, since her incapability to see in the dark hid the cliff that laid behind her from view, and as she took yet another final step, her body felt air beneath her as she fell from the edge of the cliff. Only this time, she felt the wind being knocked out of her as she hit the ground below.

* * *

When Kaoru awoke this time, she did not feel any different from when she fell the first time, except this fall actually hurt. She rubbed her head vigorously as she rose up. It was throbbing, and the shining sun did not help. She looked around her. Apparently, she layed at the base of a waterfall, from where she fell off of the cliff. Luckily for Kaoru, she landed on the moist - if not wet - earth at the bank, and she had been extremely lucky that the water had covered her scent, so that was why she remained alive.

"How long have I been down here?" she asked herself, fumbling with her drenched and muddy robes to stand up. Unfortunately, the fall had taken its toll on her. As soon as she stood, Kaoru flinched in pain and fell the ground again. Removing the robes from her legs, a bloody gash appeared on her right leg. It wasn't too deep, but it hurt nontheless. Soon after, Kaoru started sneezing and shivering. No wonder she was so cold: she had been lying at the edge of a river at the base of a water for what appeared to be hours (considering the sun was starting to climb in the sky, meaning it was mid-morning). Her robes had soaked in the water around her, leaving Kaoru to feel damp and heavy. She sneezed again.

"I should take my robes off before I go into a worse condition," she told herself. Careful not to move her injured leg much, Kaoru wobbled to a nearby boulder and sat. Slowly, she removed the robes from her body, relieved when the heavy and wet cloth was off. She wrung them as best she could, and collected quite a lot of water. Kaoru was happy to find out that despite their damp condition, the robes still retained the warmth that she was able to summon the night before, now that the water had been removed.

Before wrapping the remnants of her robes around her torso (they became quite tattered from her fall), Kaoru took the time to perform a physical on her body. Her upper torso seemed fine, save for some small bruises on her shoulders and arms. The only limbs that were in pain were her legs and feet. Besides the gash on her right leg, her small, delicate feet were covered in mud and cuts, since she had lost them in the chase. She sluffed off the crusted mud, and dipped her feet in the cool river water to clean the wounds. After she was done, she wrapped the robes around her torso. Where would she go from there? She doubted that she could walk very far with her wounded leg, and she definately wasn't going back into the forest. She decided that her best chances was to walk down river; that way, she was bound to find a house or even better, a village.

Her decision decided, Kaoru began to stand up on her left leg, but crashed on to the boulder from lose of balance. She shook her head in frustration.

"One step at a time Kaoru," she told herself. But for now, it was better to just rest her leg.

In the distance, three men walked through a forest path. Protuding stomachs, grizzly beards, scraggly and matted hair on the scalp of one man, none on the others, mud, sweat, and other grim secreting from their tattered clothes; these were the men that you would not want to be alone with in an alley, let alone an isolated forest. The path behind them smelled of sake and debris, the path ahead of them smelled of trouble to anyone who crossed their path. Unfortunately, for some like Kaoru, who was sitting at the river's edge, you did not even have to be in their path to be targeted as potential profit in the slave trade. These men were in fact wandering slave traders, capturing any person who was too weak to defend themselves, sometimes going as far as pilaging small villages in order to capture the women and children.

And the unsuspecting woman on the rock was their next target.

The men eyebrowed each other as they approached from behind, Kaoru resting her feet in the river, looking at the scenary across the river.

"Well, well," one of the men spoke up, startling Kaoru. "Lookie what we got here: a little nymph." The other two men began to snicker, while Kaoru clutched her robes to her body as she stared at them with confusion and fear.

"She's a hottie. She'll catch us a hefty price if we sell her as a 'slave of pleasure', or at the least to a brothel," the matted-haired man said, scratching his chin and smirking, eyeing her body. At first their stares were filled with greed for money, but now they were filled with greed and lust, as they continued to stare at her state of dress and her clearly visible, innocent beauty.

"Look at what she's wearing. What do you think she's been doing out here, dressed like that?! She really is a nymph!" the bald man bellowed as his comrades elbowed each other, sending a hint to their leader through their eyes.

"Gee, it would be unprofessional if we didn't 'test' the product before we sold it. Whaddya say fellas?" Their sick laughs sent chills down Kaoru's spine as her eyes widened in fear.

"Please... Leave me alone," she asked in a quiet voice, which she wished had come out more fierce and determined. They continued to laugh as the came closer to her, Kaoru edging herself off of the boulder, limping backwards.

"Now, now sweetheart, we only want to have some fun. You must be looking for fun too if your dressed so skimpily clad out in the middle of nowhere," the third man spoke up, grinning hungrily. Their leader made his first move by grabbing Kaoru's arm, attempting to pull her towards them, from where she would have no escape. But Kaoru struggled, despite her injured leg.

"Let me go!" she demanded, this time much more forcefully. This did not halt the men's attacks however; instead, it made them laugh at her show of courage in the face of dangerous.

"We got ourselves a fiesty one fellas! She'll be making someone happy with her attitude... Making US happy too." This time he grinned evilly at her, and for a second, Kaoru felt utterly hopeless. Suddenly, every nightmare-ish story she was ever told of about Earth was about to become reality. What were they going to do to her? She did not want to find out, so she struggled more fiercly from his grasp.

"Noo!" she yelled, clenching her eyes close as she felt warm tears well up in them. "Don't! Let me go RIGHT NOW!"

"Listen here, bitch," the second bald man said, "don't make this anymore difficult, or it might get, painful." At the last word, the man whipped out a dagger, but Kaoru paid no attention as she continued to struggle. When she finally felt his grip loosen around her wrist, Kaoru gave one powerful tug backwards, but unfortunately, because of her injured leg, she stumbled too far back, and her head collided with the boulder. Now unconcious, the nymph princess laid completely vunerable to the thugs who seeked to sell - and steal - everything from her.

* * *

a/n: Earlier in the chapter, you remember me saying that Kaoru had "indirect command" over the birds. I say "indirect command" instead of "direct" because, ya know, Kaoru CAN directly command the birds to do her bidding like so many others wish to, but the birds are her friends. And a good friend doesn't command their friends to do crap for them. So, she pleads and asks for their help moreso than commanding them. So that's why I used that idiom or whatver.

Another thing is the whole "nymph" deal. In the original legend, the princess is also a nymph, since many daughters of deities were classified as nymphs. So Kaoru will be referred to as a nymph and a princess throughout the story.

So this week has been going, well pretty damn shitty on my part. Final exams are starting, and I'm trying to study but I'm too distracted. But the one thing that managed to make me happy this week was the fact that so many of my favorite stories got updated this week. So I'm giving a shout out to the following authors and their stories:

Miriel-F - Her Existance

starry night blue - The Geek in Pink

hye-kyo - Mornings After

Lady Callista - Kokoro Kara

bloodxlotus - Perdendosi Melody

blueicequeen - Unexpected Desires

krystalMage - The Dance of the Firefly

Thank you for making my week so much more barable and taking my mind off of stress.

And I mean that quite literally because I haven't been studying much because of your stories.

Go fig.

So I decided to update this new story, and hopefully, if I'm not too busy this weekend, I can't update my older stories.

I was going to say more shit about this story in particular, but I can't. Too distracted.

(W/e. I'll hold out till next chapter.)


	4. Observance by the River Bank

**Chapter 3: Observance by the River Bank**

**Warning: Brief nudity and some language. Oh, and minor violence I guess...**

After a night of patrolling the forest, Kenshin treaded through the forest path, careful not to abrupt any thriving foliage, or to step on an unsuspecting and tiny insect in his path. Another night well spent, protecting the life that thrived in one of the last pristine terrains of Japan. During the chilly night, Kenshin spent his time on his usual rounds: observing regular herds of deer and packs of wolves of the forest, disarming snares and traps used to trap animals for their fur or meat, and keeping trouble makers out of the forest altogether. Because of recent hunting of the deer herds, the wolves had become hungry and more aggressive, so Kenshin had to stay an exceptionally safe distance from the pack in recent nights. Last night, however, the wolves' howls became much more active. Perhaps deer populations were finally on the rise again. That was definately a good thing: the sooner the local village stopped over-hunting, the sooner the the equilibrium of the forest would return, and then at least nature could live in peace. That was why Kenshin had to do all he could to remind the villagers of what their actions could do to Mother Earth. If they would just listen to the spirits and the gods, then everybody on Earth could live pristine lives among nature and the rest of her children, and maybe turmoil among humans and their neighbors would cease as well. In order to appease the Earth, and his mother, Kenshin would give his heart to protect this land.

Of course, protecting the land was not going to help feed and shelter him, so Kenshin had to hurry to his day job of herding cattle in the village. The villagers thought Kenshin to be a hypocrite: a man striving to protect nature but was herding animals instead. They were right after all. Kenshin would like no better than to free all of the captivated animals of the village: they belonged in nature after all. But having a job being near Earth's beautiful creatures was good enough for him, and Kenshin thought it his job to ensure the livlihood of the farm animals in anyway possible.

As Kenshin continued down the trail, juxaposed to the river, a scream caught his ear. Turning his head toward the sound of the scream, he spotted four figures by the river bank. Three of the figures were brawling men encircling themselves around a smaller figure, a woman. The moment Kenshin laid eyes on the three men, he could smell trouble. He had been hearing reports of three, lumbersome men roaming these woods, supposedly slave traders, but also hunters who killed on whim. Just then, one of the men grabbed the girl, but she fought back and eventually broke free, but fell back and hit her head. Kenshin watched to see if there was any sign of movement from the girl. With his keen eyesight, he noticed the girl's heavy breathing so she was still alive, but was in terrible danger as the men closed in around her limp form, their intentions with the girl as clear as the pure water behind them.

It was time to act now, and Kenshin prepared to defend this girl - and the forest - from these fiends that called themselves "men".

The fate of the innocence belonging to the nymph seemed sealed as the slave traders surrounded the girl's unconscious body. Their ugly faces flushed red with arousal and lust as they roamed their yellow eyes over her pure and clean body, which was becoming more revealed as her robes became unraveled from her torso.

"So who want's to 'test' the product first?" the leader joked as the others laughed along with him. The beautiful and helpless princess was about to be stolen by these fiends, when a voice was heard behind them.

"No one will," the voice spoke.

The men looked up, angered at the voice that dared to interrupt them from their "fun".

"Who goes there!?" the leader shouted. They all turned around, expecting to see a tall, equally lumbering man who would have been man enough to challenge them, but instead were met by a rather short stature man, with fiery red hair, and serious violet eyes, with flecks of amber swirling in them. He had a sword at his left hip, his hand grasping the hilt.

But instead, the men laughed at the man and his petite and feminine appearance. If they hadn't known any better (or, if they hadn't known that he was in fact a man and not a woman), the men would have attacked the man with the same intentions that they had with the woman. This red hair wasn't even a man, he appeared to be a boy in men's clothing, and for that, they laughed even more.

"Boy, unless you want to loose your pretty hair, you'd best stay the fuck out of our way!" the scraggly haired man yelled, as his comrades backed him up with a snicker, the second bald man looking at the girl from the corner of his eye.

The red head remained cool as he continued to stare sternly at the slave traders, their taunts effecting him in not the slightest way.

"If you want the keep what little hair on your head intact (or your head for that matter), I suggest you step away from the girl now," he demanded.

The thugs merely scoffed at the red-head's threat. "And if we decide not too?"

At that question, Kenshin quickly entered an attack stance.

"You will soon find out."

As suspected, the other two slave traders whipped out their daggers and spears, and charged unceremoniously at Kenshin. Unsuspected to them, on the other hand, was that the red-headed swordsman was petite for a reason, for when their leader slashed his spear at the man, all that was slashed was air, not flesh. In seconds, the leader felt a searing pain in the back of his head, and he crashed to the ground. His comrades stopped in their tracks, astounded at the small man's speed and force.

"Wh-what the hell was that?!" the third man stuttered.

Kenshin appeared at his side with a grin on his face.

"Your answer."

The man attempted to slash his dagger across Kenshin's chest, but also met air, and didn't even have a chance to turn around to see the swordsman pummel his shoulder with his sword.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu: Ryu-tsui-sen!"

Before he knew it, the wind literally got blown from his lungs, he and fell flat on his face. Kenshin land gracefully on the villain's back, and sent a threatening gaze at the last of the thugs. He supposed that this man was a tad bit smarter than his companions, considering that he went running in the opposite direction. Kenshin smirked at the man's revealed cowardice. _You won't be getting away that easily_, he said to himself, preparing for his last attack.

The coward of the slave trader thought he would be safe from this demonic red-haired swordsman, just as soon as he made it beyond some boulders. Unfortunately, all of his hopes expired when he felt the earth uprise beneath his feet.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu: Do-ryu-sen!" the swordsman yelled, driving his blade to the ground, upheaving the earth in the direction of the last thug, which sent his head colliding with a boulder, knocking him out cold.

Having defeated the last of the slave traders, Kenshin scoffed. "Cowards like these men are worse than a hundred hunters," he said while returning his sword to it's sheath. These men were just lucky that they were alive, for if it wasn't for Kenshin's sword being a sakabato, each attack would have left a grisly scene, which would have sent any maiden into a sleep of dispair if they ever saw it.

Speaking of maidens, Kenshin's thought quickly went to the girl who he saved from these beasts. He turned around to see the girl still lying on the rock, unconscious. Deciding to take a better look at her to see if she had been injured, Kenshin approached her. Now kneeling right next to her body, Kenshin's amethyst eyes widen at the sight. The girl had looked rather attractive from a distance, but up close, she was amazing. Long, black hair draping across the boulder, slim figure, pale but seemingly warm and silkly skin... The sight of such a woman would make anyone want just stroke her elegance. Kenshin almost did, but he restrained his fingers from the curious touch. He had to make sure she was still alive.

He allowed his fingers to only go toward the girls neck, to feel her pulse. _Good. The fall didn't kill her_, he told himself. The next task was much more difficult, since it called for examining her body for wounds caused by the slave traders. All curious thoughts aside, Kenshin searched her body for cuts are bruises, but couldn't keep his eye from twitching when he saw her torso.

_Stop it! You think that way and you'll be no better than those slave traders_, his conscience told him. Kenshin knew his conscience was probably thinking the same thing...

The girl looked fine, save for some minor cuts and bruises - which didn't look like they were inflicted by the slave traders - and a gash to her leg. Kenshin eyed the injury curiously, holding the leg in his hand. It wasn't caused by the slave traders, so how did she get it, along with the other bruises? He eyed her tattered garments in a professional manner.

"What has this girl been up to out here - alone?" he asked, taking a fresh cloth from his gi and wrapping the wound. With Kenshin's luck, at that moment, the girl's robes decided to come loose from her torso, revealing the girl's body to the skies and the young man next to her, who's face was becoming as red as his hair.

"Oro!" Kenshin squeaked as he turned around and covered his eyes. Oh well. Her clothes weren't suitable to wear anyway... Which was why Kenshin had to quickly dress her in suitable clothes, or as much suitable clothing got in the wilderness. He hastily removed his red gi, turned around, and slowly draped the robe over the girls body (with his eyes still closed). Now that she was covered, Kenshin made to wrap the robe around her securely, so he tucked the overlapping sides underneath her body, without touching her skin. Sighing with relief, Kenshin tugged at her tattered robes. Upon touching the tattered material, Kenshin's brow furrowed in mystery and question.

He slid the fabric in between his fingers. The texture was not of any he had every felt before. It was, heavenly. Though wet, the fabric's colors were still vibrant, almost alive, and oddly enough, the fabric produced a radiant warmth. Unfortunately, the fabric was far too ripped for repair. What a pity, and it seemed that these were the only clothes the girl had. It was still a beautiful robe, too beautiful to just leave behind. Kenshin took the robe and tucked it into his robe, and then picked up the unconscious girl into his arms.

"I guess it's to my home then. No cow herding today."

Discharging himself from his morning duty (and a days worth of pay), Kenshin spun on his heel and proceeded toward his cabin with the girl curled in his arms.

* * *

Dizziness and confusion was all the nymph princess could feel as she opened her eyes. Kaoru stirred from underneath the futon and rubbed her head. The place she was in was dim, with only some lanterns to illuminate the room. She unconsciously touched herself, and felt the soft fabric of a yukata on her body. Her cerulean eyes that once glittered with the memory of a myriad of stars whipped across the strange place that she was in.

Where was she?

_Who_ was she?

A door opened at that moment, and a short shadow appeared in the doorway. The confused princess gasped and brought the blankets up to her neck, as if to prepare to hide herself from the unknown figure. Once the figure stepped into the light of the lanterns, her hands faltered when the light revealed a handsome red-haired, violet-eyed man, with a matching red gi and white hakama, holding a tray in both hands. Her eyes stayed glued to his face as he approached her.

"I see that you are awake, miss," he said smiling. The man made his way to sit next to Kaoru. As he set the tray to his side and turned to face her, she flinched at his second eye-to-eye contact with her.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you miss," he told her reassuringly and calmly. Kaoru lowered the sheets from her neck at the sound of his calm and gentle voice. The man smiled at her progression of excepting him.

"My name is Kenshin. It was a good thing I found you when I did. I don't want to think about what those men could have done to you..." The man's sentence drifted, as if he didn't really want to say it in the first place, in fear of possibly offending her. But all Kaoru did was stare at him, with a blank yet confused look. The red-head quirked an eyebrow at her reaction to the memory. He continued.

"Anyway, I'm guessing that your family must be worried about you miss. I can help you find them. What's your name?"

The man looked at Kaoru as he expected an answer. Name? What name? The princess thought hard, threatening to intensify the throbbing feeling in her head. The poor girl couldn't remember anything since the fall on the boulder: she couldn't even remember that happening. Everything this man told her just brought an onslaught of confusion to the lost princess, so she said the first - and only - thing that popped in her mind.

"K-Kaoru."

"Kaoru? That's your name?" the man asked her again. Kaoru nodded, in a way that led the man to think that she wasn't even sure. Could it be possible that this girl had amnesia?

"Excuse me, but do you remember anything happening earlier today?" he asked her.

Again, Kaoru thought hard and squinted her eyes in pain: not from triggering a traumatizing memory, but more like from pain. Finally, Kaoru gave up and shook her head.

"Well, do you know where your family is? Do you remember what village you are from?"

The outburst of question confused her even more, and Kaoru made to tell the man, Kenshin, of this. But as she moved her mouth, nothing come out. She tried speaking again, and still, nothing came out. Kenshin's eyes widened for a second as a revelation hit him, but then softened in pity. Not only did this girl loose her memory, but also her voice. It must have been brought about by some unconscious trauma from the attack.

As Kaoru grasped her neck, Kenshin brought her hands down to her lap.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed you to think so hard. I'll help you look for your family as best as I can, but for now, you must rest here, and perhaps you can regain your memory and your voice soon." The sound of his voice made Kaoru's confused eyes ease and soften, and she nodded at his words. He nodded and smiled back.

"Good. Now, I suppose you are hungry by now Kaoru-dono. Would you like something to eat?" he asked with cheer as he grabbed the tray from beside him. Kaoru nodded vigorously as her stomach growled at that very second. Kenshin chuckled at the obvious sign of the girl's hunger. He picked the tray up and sat it on her lap. On the tray was some fish, miso and rice. It wasn't a big supper, but her stomach growled at the smell and sight of the food. Kaoru stared at the chopsticks that laid across the tray. She hesitantly picked up the two sticks, and tried to position them between her fingers as best she could, but as soon as she seemed to have grasped them in a reasonable position, the chopsticks slipped out of her fingers, one flying over Kenshin, the other falling on her lap.

"Oro?" Kenshin said as he heard the 'ping' of the chopstick hitting the floor behind him. She must have forgotten how to hold chopsticks. Kaoru looked with discontent at the single chopstick on her lap, when a hand went to pick up the chopstick. Kenshin had also seized the other chopstick from behind him, and held up his hand with the both chopsticks fastened in between his fingers in the correct manner.

"You hold chopsticks like this," he described while Kaoru studied his hand. He swiftly twirled the two chopsticks to his palm and handed them to Kaoru.

"Now you try, Kaoru-dono."

She took the chopsticks in her hands again, and tried to mimic Kenshin's fingers, but again the chopstick fell, this time in the miso. As Kaoru pouted with her head down, Kenshin couldn't help but smile. "It will take some practice, Kaoru-dono. But you'll get it in two days tops," he encouraged. Kaoru continued to hold her head down, when she felt a nudge at her upper lip.

"Here."

She raised her head to see Kenshin holding a clump of rice in between the two sticks. At first she was confused, but then Kenshin spoke again.

"You don't expect me to let you go hungry until you learn how to use chopsticks again do you?" he asked with a smile. "Eat."

Kaoru opened her mouth and clamped down on the chopsticks. Kenshin allowed her to finish chewing the rice before picking up a piece of fish for her to eat.

"Would you like some fish?"

She nodded and ate. Kaoru savored the tender taste of the fish mixed with the soy sauce. It was delectable.

"Do you like it? I hope you can tolerate my cooking..."

Kaoru nodded happily in agreence. Then she felt a flick on the side of her mouth. She opened her eyes to see Kenshin smiling warmly at her.

"Got a grain of rice on your mouth, Kaoru-dono."

Though Kaoru wasn't aware, she blushed at her new caretaker's touch and treatment, as he continued to hand-feed her until her meal was finished.

* * *

A/n: Finally. NO SCHOOL FOR FOUR MONTHS. Now I can concentrate on my fanfics (ALL OF THEM) and on my art stuff. Oh, and work. Can't forget about that bitch.

To be honest, some of the detail about the fight with the slave traders and how Kenshin found Kaoru were ideas from another story idea that I had in mind, which I may or may not still do (if I do, I might make it a fanfic for a different series.). I would like to add that Kaoru is a celestial nymph. She's not specific nymph, just a nymph, but it was not unusual for nymphs to be daughters of gods in mythology. In fact, in some versions of "The Princess and the Cow Herder" the princess was a nymph from heaven. So as I said before, Kaoru will be referred to as a nymph and a princess throughout the story. Also, I was reading some information on nymphs in Greek mythology, and found some very interesting information that is related to the Far East Asian legend. I read that if a man took some clothing from a nymph while she was bathing, she would be his wife until she got that article of clothing back, so she could return to her people. Neat huh? Don't worry. Kenshin isn't like that. Though there will be some interesting twists in this story to come...

And Kaoru has amnesia, AND no voice, which further thickens the plot. Whatever will she do? But most of all, are you guys pissed at this? I certainly hope not, 'cause I'm not planning on changing it anytime, as I believe it is perfect for the plot development. But just to clear things up about the amnesia bit: Kaoru has amnesia (duh). It's not bad enough that she actually forgets how to speak and understand language, but she forgot everything prior to her waking up in Kenshin's cabin, and some simple tasks I guess. I admit that I added the chopstick scene because - well, it's cute.

Whatever. Until next time.

Update: Wow. I really need to take my own advice more often and start proofreading. I caught a ton of grammatical and spelling errors that went unnoticed before.


	5. Lessons and Introductions

**Chapter 4: Lessons and Introductions**

By the time Kenshin's job of herding cows was done for the day, the day was quickly descending into evening. Ever since he found Kaoru, he decided to postpone his nightly patrols until he found her family. He took notice that she wasn't very fond of the dark, and refused to go to sleep unless he was there; so as soon as Kenshin was dismissed from herding, he hurried home as fast as he could.

As soon as Kenshin walked through the door and announced "I'm home!" to its one other resident, he was "pleasantly" greeted by Kaoru each and every time in the exact same way: a glomp. As Kenshin slid to the floor, Kaoru nearly strangled him as she snuggled into his neck.

"Oro..." came out of his mouth as he rubbed his head from its rough contact with the back wall as Kaoru continued to hug him.

"Okay, that's enough now Kaoru-dono. I'm happy to see you too," he coaxed as he gently unwrapped her arms from his neck. Kaoru continued to smile at Kenshin, her brilliant cerulean eyes closed while she smiled. Kenshin, in return, smiled back, but with a hint of anguish for her. He was hoping that she wouldn't get too attached to him for when she found her family if she still had amnesia. The shock of being separated from the one person she remembered and lived with and suddenly being handed over to her rightful family that she couldn't even remember could traumatize her. Or maybe he felt a little bit of anguish for himself, Kaoru being his first companion in many, many years...

A tug at his sleeve interrupted Kenshin's thoughts. He looked down to see Kaoru with a paintbrush and script book in her other hand. Kenshin immediately put other thoughts aside and smiled at her. Since Kaoru had been staying with him, he had been teaching her how to read and write, albeit she couldn't talk, but he wasn't sure if she remembered to read or write due to her amnesia, so he took it upon himself to at least re-teach her just in case.

"Ah. It's time for your lesson, is it not?"

Kaoru nodded with enthusiasm.

He chuckled and picked himself up, pulling Kaoru up with him. She was no longer wearing the white sleeping yukata that Kenshin dressed her in two weeks earlier. She was dressed in a purple yukata with pink cherry blossom patterns on it, with a simple pink obi wrapped around her torso. Kenshin had gone down to the nearby village to buy the simple gown for her, which surprised the villager by far, since they had known Kenshin to be somewhat of a hermit.

They walked to a table and sat. Kenshin got up again to grab a candle, some ink, and the ink stone. When he came back, Kaoru was ready with the book open to the next clean sheet of paper.

"Let's begin by reviewing the kana," Kenshin said, directing Kaoru to the ink and brush. She gleefully picked the brush up and began. When she was through with the letters, Kenshin wrote ten sentences in kana and read aloud to Kaoru, her eyes and ears following. Kenshin was himself a bit skittish about writing with his own script and teaching Kaoru from there: he wasn't the best handwriter. He was afraid Kaoru would immitate every letter exactly and get some incorrect from his mistakes. Maybe he should start reading from a book as soon as she learned kanji so she could read other's handwriting...

Kaoru was excelling in her script, and it was clear that she would write beautiful calligraphy, despite Kenshin's sloppy examples. Once Kenshin was satisfied, he introduced a new subject.

"Tonight, I'm going to teach you how to write 'kanji' Kaoru-dono." Kenshin picked up the brush and dipped it in the ink. With Kaoru watching intently, Kenshin began by writing the characters for "sword" and "heart". When he was done, he turned the book around for Kaoru to see. "This is my name in kanji, Kaoru-dono," he said pointing to the two characters. He could see that Kaoru was confused that two symbols could stand for the four kana that made up Kenshin's name. This was going to be a difficult lesson for Kaoru.

"You see, kanji is used to shortern the script for certain words; instead of writing the word in kana, you can write the same word shorter with kanji. Also, kanji can be used for people's names. Everybody's name stands for something, means something. The name and word 'Ai' means 'love'; 'Kagami' means 'mirror'. My name - 'Kenshin' - means 'heart of sword'." Kenshin pointed the top of the brush to the first character. "The first part of my name 'Ken' means 'sword' and the last part, 'shin', means 'heart'. So I use the kanji characters for 'sword' and 'heart' to write my name." He wrote his name again in the precise same strokes as Kaoru looked on quizically.

"Now I will write your name in kanji, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, Kaoru obviously excited to see her name written for the first time in a different script format. "Your name means 'fragrant grass'. The good thing is that your name is only one kanji character. The downside is that it's a bit complicated to write, so look carefully at the brush strokes."

He began with the top strokes, as traditional calligraphy called for, and worked his way down the character. He had begun a little sloppy, but was overall pleased that he was able to write her name for the first time legibly. Kenshin showed the results to Kaoru.

"See? Ah! Don't touch it yet: the ink isn't dry yet," Kenshin told Kaoru as she began to touch the character. She withdrew her hand and nodded.

"I'll write your name a few more times so you can get the brush stroke pattern. Then you can try."

Kenshin wrote the kanji five more times, top to bottom on the sheet. He added other notes while scribing, such as reading script from right to left and writing upward then downward. Once he was done, he handed the brush and book to Kaoru.

"Now you may try Kaoru-dono." Kaoru took the brush and positioned her hand above the paper. She hesitated to brush the first stroke. She wanted to write her name perfectly on the first try. Then she felt a hand rest on hers.

"Don't worry about making your name look perfect on the first try. It'll take practice Kaoru-dono." Kaoru's cheeks turned a richer shade of pink than what they usual appeared. It was if Kenshin was reading her mind.

So Kaoru began to write her name in this new script, five times at first, then five times more. She proudly handed the book to Kenshin. He reviewed her handwriting, and was quite surprised that she improved little by little with each attempt, albeit stil not perfect. But who was he to judge? Kenshin was no master calligrapher himself. He looked up and smiled.

"I can tell that with some more practice, Kaoru-dono, your handwriting will become beautiful calligraphy," Kenshin complimented, accompanied by a head rub, stroking Kaoru's silky hair in a friendly fashion. Kaoru could feel her cheeks turn even pinker as she smiled and looked away. Kenshin could see her blush and the gleam in her eyes. He could tell that this was her way of thanking him.

"Your welcome, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said while standing up. "Well, it's almost time for bed. I'm going to go out to the well and bring in some fresh water. While I do that, you can go and get ready for bed, okay?" Kaoru happily nodded as Kenshin went out to the well in the woods. Before she would go change into her sleeping yukata, Kaoru decided to write some more kanji. She began to gleefully scribble the kanji she learned that night with the kana she already memorized. Then, Kaoru decided to do something different by writing her first sentence. She began by writing the kanji for her name. She skipped a few spaces down and began to write the kanji for Kenshin's name. Then, Kaoru returned the tip of the brush toward the blank space in the middle, and began to write the kanji for "heart", just as in Kenshin's name, in a smaller font size. Kaoru looked up and down at the sentence she wrote, and blushed a real shade of red.

"Kaoru heart Kenshin..."

* * *

Two days from that night was the day Kenshin went down to the nearby village to go shopping. It was small but lively with small stores and workshops, but it still managed to attract little attention from outsiders, as it was well hidden in the forest. Kenshin decided it was time to take Kaoru out of the house and introduce her to civilization again.

Kaoru walked behind Kenshin as they neared the entrance of the village, but then walked directly next to him once she caught sight of the people. She had never seen so many people collected in one small space. And they all looked so different, but none as good looking as Kenshin in her opinion. As a large man carrying two buckets balanced on a pole walked by, nearly bumping into her, Kaoru jumped and clinged onto Kenshin's gi. Kenshin just snickered.

"You don't have to be afraid Kaoru-dono. Just stay near me and you'll be safe," he ensured her. Kaoru nodded with a faulty smile, but continued to cling on Kenshin's gi like a baby clinging onto its mother's kimono. Kenshin smiled and shook his head, eyes closed, as if he was relating Kaoru's behavior to such that he remembered seeing from long ago.

As Kenshin stopped by various vegetable stands and other shops, he took the time to point out signs displaying different kanji on them. Though Kaoru did pay attention slightly, she couldn't help but be distracted by all of the people and things. Men bartering, children running and playing with pinwheels, women grouping together and gossiping (most about the handsome red-head walking by), colorful items displayed on stands; it was all so much! If Kaoru wasn't so skeptical, she would approach some of these people and items to inspect them closely.

But Kaoru noticed that she wasn't the only one investigating. As they walked, they began to gain the attention of glaring spectators. She heard whispers and saw eyes darting from her to the red-head that walked by her side.

"Look! It's the loner!"

"Hey! He has a woman with him! Where'd she come from?"

"Is she one of his 'kind'?"

"I heard you shouldn't look directly into his eyes. They do awful things to you..."

"Why is _he_ here again?"

"Kind"? What did they mean? Kenshin look just like her or them - only a bit more attractive. How could he be different? But mostly, why were they talking about Kenshin that way? They talked of him like he was some kind of fiend. Kaoru frowned with uneasy discontent. Though Kenshin kept his bangs covering his eyes the whole time, he saw Kaoru's expression and raised his hand to her shoulder.

"Don't worry about them Kaoru. Everything will be fine," he said, allowing his cheerful countenance to be revealed. But Kaoru knew that this smile wasn't genuine.

"Ken-san!" A round of cheerful, small voices from behind him broke the icy atmosphere surrounding the two. Kenshin and Kaoru spun around to be greeted by three children, two boys and one girl. Suddenly, Kenshin's smile did turn authentic as he kneeled down to the children's level.

"Hello children! I hope you have been doing well?" Kenshin greeted. The children immediately began to verbally glomp him with a swarm of questions.

"Ken-san! Where have you been? We haven't seen you at all for the last week!"

"Who's that lady, Ken-san?"

Kenshin tried to qualm the children's questions. Where to begin?

"I'm sorry children, but I've been taking care of my new friend - the er, lady." He nudged his head in Kaoru's direction, who was looking at the whole situation with confusion.

"Hey! Have you been playing with her instead of us?! Do you like her more than us?!" one of the boys accused. Kenshin waved his hands to try to subdue the accusations. "Now, now! That wasn't what happened at all! I like you all too, but..." Kenshin trailed off with a nervous giggle. Only Kenshin had a hard time pleasing children in the right manner, but he didn't want to offend Kaoru if he said the wrong thing. He decided the best course of action was to drop the whole subject and introduce Kaoru to the children. He stood up and rested a hand on Kaoru.

"Children, this is Kaoru-dono. She's my friend that I have been taking care of. She's going to be staying with me for awhile. Kaoru-dono, these are some of the village children. I'm - I'm their playmate." Kaoru cheerfully nodded in the children's direction, but all the children did was look back at her dumbfounded.

"Hey, how come she doesn't say anything?" one of the boys asked. "Is she dumb or something?"

Kaoru hung her head down at the word from the younger boy. Kenshin saw this and put a slight serious face on.

"Now children. You shouldn't say things like that. Kaoru-dono lost her voice, so she can't speak," Kenshin defended, putting both hands on either of her shoulders.

"But, my mom told me that's what speechless people are called..."

Kenshin "oro-ed" in his mind. He scratched his head as he mentally sweatdropped. _Outsmarted by a six year-old. Still... _Kenshin began to clear his voice and put the serious face back on. "Still children, you should choose your words more wisely. You can hurt someone's feelings, that you can."

The children understood and nodded. "I'm sorry," the boy mumbled. The other little boy looked to the side, glancing at Kaoru now and then, who was looking up from the ground. The little girl, however, just stared at Kaoru with awe. Both Kaoru and Kenshin noticed, and while she looked with admiration at Kaoru, the two adults looked at her with question.

"What is it?" Kenshin asked, scratching her head. Kaoru's eyes were filled with question as well.

"Oh," the girl began, twittling her fingers, "it's just that Kaoru-san is so pretty, like a princess!"

The two boys obviously agreed, since they were blushing as well.

If Kaoru was able to speak, she would have been truely speechless, to have recieved her first compliment of appearance from a child. She smiled a beautiful smile in return, and the little girl giggled.

"I think that's Kaoru-dono's way of saying 'thank you'," Kenshin answered smiling.

"You're welcome Kaoru-_hime_!" the little girl squeaked in return, still giddy and blushing. At this, Kaoru blushed (beautifully as usual) as Kenshin began to laugh. "You shouldn't be embarrassed Kaoru-_dono_," he said as he patted her head. "it's just a child's compliment, that it is!"

"Hey!" the three children shouted in unison. As they began to glomp the poor, incapacitated Kenshin, Kaoru looked on with a smile, but that smile soon turned into a sad smile at the children's compliments. Kaoru wished that Kenshin would call her pretty, or princess, someday...

"Will you come to the village to play with us more, Ken-san!?" the children whined while ontop of Kenshin. He rubbed his head and gave a goofy smile. "This one promises to come and play with you in the village more often, that he does," Kenshin began, standing up and brushing the dust off of his gi and hakama, "and I'll be sure to bring Kaoru-dono along too, so we can all-"

"Children!" a voice interrupted from afar. The five looked down the road to see the approach of a woman in her late twenties with a basket in one hand. She had a worried and stern expression on her face when she saw her son and his friends next to the scarred red-head and a mysterious woman.

"Come now! I've been looking all over for you!" she scolded, glancing back between the children and the two adults with suspicious eyes.

"But mom, we just wanted to see Ken-san -"

"I don't want to hear it right now! Come along you three! It's time for supper." So the restless mother herded the three children in the opposite direction of the road, head facing in that direction, but not without the red-head and the blue-eyed beauty noticing the single word that spilled form her mouth.

"Monster."

The sound of that hiddeous word directed at her caretaker made Kaoru's eyes water with sadness and rage, and if she were determined and mean enough to do it, she would have followed the lady and struck her across the face. But Kaoru stayed in her spot, fists clenched and shaking and knuckles baring white. But a gentle hand halted the quivering, and Kenshin looked up to see the sad smile of Kenshin.

"Do not worry about that, Kaoru-dono. I do not want you to worry about my burdens, that I don't."

With their errands done, Kenshin led the way home, with Kaoru following not too far behind.

* * *

She was suppose to be fast asleep, but Kaoru always found herself awake at this hour of the night. She couldn't stop thinking about the villagers and what they said about Kenshin. Why would they call Kenshin - of all people - a "monster"? A person so sweet and kind such as Kenshin didn't deserve such cruel words. But was there truth in the villagers' words? No! Of course not! Kenshin was no different from her or them. He was just Kenshin: perfect Kenshin.

Very quietly, Kaoru sat up in bed, adjusting her eyes to the darkness of the cabin. She turned her head toward the far window, where she found Kenshin, in the same spot with the same forlorn expression on his face which was exposed in the white moonlight. She had observed him each time she awoke at that time. He would always sit near the window, looking up at the stars, almost as if he was lost amongst them. Kaoru wanted to know what he was thinking when he looked so sadly at objects so beautiful. Before she would simply lie down and try to sleep again, sad that she probably couldn't do anything to help him with his obvious pain. But after the events earlier that day - she knew that he must have been just a little bit upset about what the villagers said behind his back, even if she did not understand why they would say such things.

Kaoru tossed the sheets from over her legs and sat up, tip toeing toward Kenshin. When she was no more than two feet away from the man, he did not turn his head, just continued to stare at the stars.

"You are awake I see," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb the tranquility as much as he had to. For awhile, only the crickets were heard as the nymph stared at the red-head, who stared off into the navy blue sky, but the soft sound of fabric rubbing with fabric added a little volume to the atmosphere. Kaoru hugged him from the back, since Kenshin was still looking out the window when she did. She herself didn't know why she decided to hug him. Maybe it was because she wanted to feel some of his sadness. But she was glad she did, for although she sensed his sorrows, Kenshin was so warm. Since her first hug toward Kenshin was so sudden, she didn't expect him to hug her back, but she didn't mind since she hugged him for his sake, not her pleasure. She was happy to feel a warm hand grip her clasped hands and rubbed them gently, understandence that he knew that she felt his pain.

The two stayed like that until Kaoru drifted off to sleep on his back.

* * *

A/n: Okay. Let's get this over with.

Sorry if I wrote the "Kanji Lesson" in the wrong teaching manner. Again, I am not a Japanese-language student: I am a German student. Thank you, very much.

The last line of the first segment isn't dialogue. It's just what the sentence that Kaoru wrote says.

There will be some major action in the next chapter, so fear not! You will get your whoop-ass scene.

As usually **usual**, I will read through the chapter when I load it onto the site, and I will come across a sleu **slew** of spelling and grammatical errors. I'll get to them A.S.A.P. Update: Oh the irony.

Which won't be so soon. Hah.


	6. The Summer Festival

_Pre-a/n: Writers' block is a bitch. I'm sorry. I started writing this chapter three weeks ago when I was in Chicago for Anime Central (it was the bomb), but I was enjoying myself far to much to concentrate, sooo... Anyway, I'm nearly done with the latest chapter of "Beauty and Battousai", and I swear to Gd, I PROMISE that'll I'll finish before this week's end. Just, try to reduce the rushiness of the reviews please. I love to write for you guys, and I'm glad you are anxious for more updates, but being rushed is never a good feeling. D: But, this is a birthday treat. Yeah. That's right: It's my birthday. Happy Birthday Me, and, to anyone who may share the same birthdate! I am now one more year closer to my death. And that is a cause to celebrate(!) Anyway enjoy the chapter._

**Chapter 5: The Summer Festival**

**Warnings: Violence and language**

The days continued to pass as Kaoru became more accustomed to living with Kenshin. As she excelled in her writing and reading lessons, Kenshin also began to teach her simple chores around the house. While she was good at sweeping the floors and dusting the mats, Kenshin couldn't exactly say the same about the cooking. But, albeit cooking was not her strongest chore, Kenshin enjoyed cooking for Kaoru more anyway. And she enjoyed eating his cooking far more than hers in all sincerity (though she couldn't be hand fed by Kenshin anymore, since she lived up to his garauntee of learning the proper etiquette of chopsticks in two days.).

Soon, spring came and went, and the village was preparing to host its yearly Summer Festival. People from surrounding smaller villages came to celebrate the festivities also, and soon the entire village landscape was transformed with lanterns, activity booths, and stages. It would be a very eventful day for all, though the main events would wait until evening for when the temperature dropped.

Kenshin hadn't been to the Summer Festival in a long while. He wasn't much of a social person, and, the villagers weren't to keen on him joining the festivities. But on this such ocassion, he would put all of that aside to take Kaoru to the festival. It was time for her to get out of the house more and have some fun. And maybe he would even have some fun with her also.

"Kaoru-dono," he said that morning, "how would you like to go to the Summer Festival down at the village tonight? I am sure that it will be a lot of fun." To this, Kaoru jumped up and down in joy - and jumped on Kenshin as well.

"Ah. I'll take that as a 'yes'," he regarded, Kaoru nodding while clasping her hands together as if she were making a motion to plead to him in case he decided to change his mind. When she saw that he was not going back on his word, Kaoru hugged him again.

Kenshin gently pulled Kaoru off of him and propped her in front of him, so they would meet eye to eye. "Okay, okay. I'll be back from the fields early today, so be ready when I get back at sundown, okay?" As acustomed, Kaoru nodded, a sign that she understood.

"Okay then. I'm off now, so I'll see you this evening. And don't go outside until I get back. Bye Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin bidded as he walked out the door for another day's work. Kaoru waved behind him, and began to start that day's indoor chores. She didn't bother to attempt to cook lunch for herself: she would wait until that evening to eat, and then walk around the festival with Kenshin.

Kenshin.

Kaoru found herself giggling silently and then softly blushing whenever she thought of Kenshin. How she wished she could speak so that she could tell him all about her (or, all she could actually remember about herself since she had amnesia) and so she could ask him questions about him. He was still as much a mystery to her as she was to him. So many walls would be broken if she could only speak.

Like how Kenshin felt about her.

Though she tried everyday, Kaoru wasn't able to make a peep from her mouth. Would she ever be able to speak again? How would she tell him how she felt? Kaoru supposed that she could write him a letter, but she wanted to express her feelings for him moreso. But how?

She thought back to all of those nights that she saw Kenshin staring so sadly at the the starry sky. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but couldn't. Maybe she could do something to make him feel better, but what could take away his sorrows?

The perfect opportunity would peak at the festival; she could buy Kenshin a gift that would express to him how she felt and make him feel better. That decided, Kaoru got continued on with her chores, anxiously waiting for the Sun to set in the sky.

* * *

When Kenshin finally arrived home, Kaoru was starting to get a little impatient. Of course, she wouldn't sulk when he arrived, but she wanted desperately to find a gift for him at the festival. She had already dressed herself in a clean yukata, which was light blue with a dark blue obi tied in a simple knot. Her hair was in a tight braid down her back with a hair tie to keep it together. Kenshin knew that Kaoru would be ready when he got back, but it was a little much to find her standing right in the doorway.

"I see that you are ready to go, Kaoru-dono, that you are," he observed Kaoru, who was wearing an anxious look on her face. "Hold on one minute Kaoru-dono. I have to change into something fresh." He pointed to his red working clothes, which were covered with dirt from a day of herding cattle. Along with his face being covered with dirt, Kenshin also managed to work up a fair amount of sweat. Kaoru's face turned from anxious to pouty as Kenshin made the update. He just giggled at her cute face. "I'll be quick Kaoru-dono, I promise. Why don't you wait outside the door for me? You won't be waiting for long," Kenshin said with a smile. Unable to hold a pouting face - but still not able to hold a cheerful one - Kaoru nodded and made her way toward the front yard, found a crate, and sat.

Luckily, Kenshin did always hold up to his word - he was done bathing and dressing in ten minutes flat. Kaoru instantly turned around to fly to Kenshin's side. He came out of the house wearing a fresh blue gi and a gray hakama, with matching blue tabi, his sword at his hip. No matter how many times she saw him in his gi and hakama, Kaoru always thought that Kenshin looked incredibly handsome.

"Are you ready, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked fully knowing the answer and reaction. The reaction was Kaoru hugging Kenshin's right arm and tugging him in the direction of the village.

"Haha. I should have known better," Kenshin laughed as he led their way down the forest path to the Summer Festival.

* * *

The first time Kaoru went to the village, she was intrigued, but now that the festival was in place, she was amazed! The village took on a whole new look, one wouldn't even imagine it as a village. In the late evening horizon, the colorful lanterns gave the candles a rainbow of luminence. The shops that would normally be vending off household goods were now selling trinkets and had game booths open. Stages were set up for performances in kabuki and bunraku, and smells exotic to Kaoru's nostrils drifted through the air. The population was doubled from the village residents, with people from nearby villages coming for the festivities. The best thing about the commotion was in fact the commotion: since the attendees were all too busy enjoying themselves, nobody stopped to look at Kenshin and stare like how they would do on a normal shopping trip, so Kaoru was thoroughly happy.

After a failed attempt at catching some koi fish at a booth on Kenshin's part, and a failed attempt at the proper eating of mochi on Kaoru's, the two decided to drift through the crowds, watching performers and looking at carefully crafted novelties. During the whole evening, Kaoru never left Kenshin's side, and for the most part, Kenshin watched Kaoru like a hawk. To an unfamiliar eye - or even a familiar one at that - the two looked like an idealistic couple among the other couples who were enjoying the evening summer air and the embers of fireworks drifting through it. This was a night to just forget about any troubles that fornlorned one and to just enjoy oneself, if only for a few hours. And it was a dead shame that time always flew by so fast when you were enjoying yourself.

The waxing moon acted as a clock in the sky as it began to climb it. Soon it would be time to go home. But Kaoru hadn't even begun to start searching for a gift for Kenshin yet, and she didn't want to leave empty-handed. Kenshin had given her a few coins in case she wanted to buy something, and she planned to put them to good use. Time was running out when Kenshin announced that they would be going home in ten minutes. What was she to do in such a dilemma?

"Oh! Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin turned and exclaimed, still able to grab Kaoru's attention with the noisy crowd around them. "I just remembered that I forgot something at a booth. I'll go get it right away!" Kenshin began to head back in the opposite direction, leaving Kaoru standing, but quickly came back and gently grasped her wrist. Kaoru nearly blushed at the sudden contact that he enacted. "And please stay here, Kaoru-dono. Don't move, okay?" Kaoru nodded as usual, while Kenshin took notice to a nearby monument to mark her location: a single blue lantern in a row of red lanterns. He nodded in compliance to her nod, and returned back in the opposite direction.

Kaoru stood on her toes to see Kenshin's figure disappear in the crowd, and as soon as he was out of sight, she smiled widely and left her spot. She knew that she was directly disobeying Kenshin's orders, but this was the opportunity that she was hoping for. She told herself that she would only look in the booths that were visible to the blue lantern and that she would return in five minutes. So Kaoru began to drift amongst the novelty boothes. During her search, she came across many knick knacks and toys, accessories and entiquetties. But the majority just didn't suit Kenshin. Most of them were childrens' toys, festive pottery, or womens' items such as kanzashi and purses.

Then, Kaoru came across the last booth. It was different from the rest, because it held more spiritual signifance instead of recreational. The vendor had many statues of icons, such as Amida, his bodhisattvas and various kami. He even had statuettes of haniwa and reproduced dotaku. He also had various Shinto charms, such as prosperity, good health, and such. Indeed there were happiness charms, but they did not strick Kaoru's eye, and probably would not strike Kenshin's either. Kaoru was about to settle for a Shinto happiness charm, when a white sheen caught her from the corner of her eye. At one end of the table was a charm of sorts, but instead of it being made of paper, it was made of stone. Two stone components hung on a double red cord, with and intricate knot at the beginning and middle. At the top of charm was a soft blue stone carved to resemble a knot from the mainland. At the bottom hung a green translucent tablet stone with a verse carved into it, but Kaoru could only make out the kanji that said "inner peace" and "harmony". Kaoru picked it up to examine it at a closer look. The craftmanship was nearly flawless, and it was very handy - Kenshin could carry it everywhere if he wanted to.

"You like what you see, miss?" the vendor said. He was an older man in what looked like a priest's gi and hakama. He had a friendly face so Kaoru couldn't help but smile back and reply with a nod.

"That's a talisman that I picked up from the mainland. The stones are said to bring peace of mind and happiness to the person that it is given to," the old priest displayed an innocent but michievous face, "and it's quite popular among young couples." He winked at Kaoru, who blushed and pretended to look away. The old man just let out a laugh.

"Haha! I was only joking miss!" he laughed. Seeing that it was nothing more than old men's humor, Kaoru erased her blush and looked back on the charm, this time with a smile. This was the gift that she had been looking for! It was perfect for Kenshin, just perfect! Kaoru brought out her coin pouch and prepared to grab her money, but not without the old man saying, "now usually this would go out for a hefty price. These are precious stones and they're from the mainland after all." He started to scratch his head whilst looking up at the sky, but not without noticing Kaoru staring sadly at her money pouch. The young dear probably didn't have enough for the talisman's real price, and the wise man knew that she was intending to buy the charm for the young red-headed man whom she was with earlier. It would be heartless for even and old Shinto priest such as himself to do such to an adorable girl, so he decided to make an exception.

"But for you, I'll make it a discount price of two gold pieces. How about it, dear?" From the look of her face, the old man would have guessed that if it weren't for the table separating the two of them, the girl would have hugged him for his generosity. Instead, her face lit up in an adorable but beautiful smile. _That young man must be really lucky to have a girl like this one. Only hope that he appreciates her, _the old man thought.

Just as Kaoru gave the two gold coins to the priest and was about to pick up the charm, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Excuse me," a voice came from behind her along with the tap. Kaoru turned around to face a tall young man with shortly cut black hair, squinty brown eyes, but a rather charming smiling.

"I couldn't help but figure out that you have been trying to look for a gift for a 'certain somone'", he said, Kaoru a bit quizzical that she and Kenshin had been being watched.

"If you don't mind my suggestion, I have found an interesting gift that could suit your friend a bit more." This comment was frowned upon by the old priest, who was rather suspicious of this young man.

"If you would just follow me, I can show you to the booth," the young man said, turning around and crouching his shoulder in the direction that he was intending on leading Kaoru in. Could there be a present that was even better than this happiness charm? Would Kenshin surely like it more than this? If Kaoru were naive and trusting enough, she would have followed this young man on her own free will. But Kenshin's words echoed in her mind.

_Please stay here Kaoru-dono. Don't move. _

That was right. Kenshin had told her to stay underneath the blue lantern. She wasn't even suppose to be at this booth, but Kaoru had promised herself that she would only stay in the vacinity of the blue lantern and be back beneath it within five minutes. So Kaoru wisely took a step back away from the strange young man and shook her head. However, she wasn't expecting the young man to be so direct. Before she could reach for the charm, the man caught her wrist and started to tug her in the direction that he led to.

"Come on. I promise I'll take you back here; I promise," he said before he got Kaoru moving. At that moment a strange feeling started to swim in her belly... But the man promised her that he would take her back when he was through showing her this gift option, so it was okay, right? Still, Kaoru was disappointed that she did not get her charm: she still believed it was the perfect gift. Then Kaoru felt a weight at the bottom of her sleeve. With the same hand that occupied the sleeve, Kaoru reached in and pulled out the happiness talisman, which was slipped in by the grinning face back at the booth. Kaoru grinned back before turning around, only to have that grin turn into a worried look...

* * *

As the crowd began to dwindle in the direction that they were heading, Kaoru began to get nervous. It was in the exact opposite directions of where Kenshin went and to where their home was. As the amount of light in the streets began to lessen as well - and that there was clearly no more festival activities in this area - Kaoru decided it was best to tug her out of the man's grasp. But just like a snare, the man's grip on her wrist tightened as she struggled more.

"We're almost there, don't worry," the man's voice said rather darkly. The malicious intent in his voice created knots in Kaoru's throat, and the knots became sheer rocks in her throat as the young man pulled her into a dimly lit alley to face some ten brawling men, each with a savage face of pure disgust and lust.

"What did you bring for us today, Botan?" one of the men asked while the others licked their lips and stroked their various weapons. The young man - dubbed "Botan" - held up Kaoru's hand as if he was showing off a prized fish.

"This lovely lil' bird I found out at the festivals. Seems as if her escort left her alone, which was pretty downright stupid of him, seeing that she is so gullible!" Botan laughed along with the other men, as Kaoru's eyes widen in fear as she tugged at his hand even more. He let her go, sending Kaoru to fall on a bigger man who stood behind her. He pushed her around so that she was facing his massive form, and he grabbed both of her wrists. He inspected her closely and then something clicked in his mind.

"Hey! You're the little wench who we caught before, but then that devil swordsman came and interrupted us!" He announced. This sparked the lustful interests of all who were closing in on her. Kaoru tightened her hold on the talisman, but then another thug caught her chin and turned it to face his grotesque face.

"She's a hottie! No wonder you guys went after her when you did! What's your name sweetheart?"

When she did not answer, the thug took this as a cue to get her to talk.

"A shy one, huh? Well we can help with that..." he said as he leaned in to try to tongue her. When his foul-smelling mouth was about to reach hers, Kaoru turned her head harshly away, causing some laughter, primarily from the man who dared to try and steal her first kiss.

"What's the matter baby? Still too shy to-" he stopped his sentence when he felt a sharp pain to his groin as Kaoru kneed it, sending him to the ground, croaching in pain. Her act of defiance caused a ruckus: half enraged at her show of resistance, the other half aroused at her spunkiness.

Kaoru was turned harshly around to face the man who was holding her, and felt a hot pain on her soft cheek as the man backhanded her, sending her tumbling to the ground, right out of her geta. With her on the ground and her unscathed legs showing, the brutes could no longer resist and crowded around her, their leader straddling her hips while Botan held her hands above her head after gagging her.

"Before we were just going to sell you to a pleasure district, but since destiny has led you back to us, we think it's best for you to please just US; and since your devil isn't here to protect you, we won't be interrupted this time," he told a shaking Kaoru as he began to untie her obi and separating her yukata. "We liked you better in your old clothes, but we can take care of that. And try to stay awake this time: it'll be much more fun when we're all awake." As the realization finally made it to her stomach, hot tears began to pour down Kaoru's cheek as the men continued to laugh and hoot at her position.

And all she could possibly do was cry and think of Kenshin, while clutching the talisman in her hand.

* * *

_Minutes earlier..._

"That took longer than I thought," Kenshin said as he made his way make to the waiting spot. He tucked what seemed to be a box into his lapels as he thought. _I hope Kaoru-dono won't be too mad that I made her wait longer than expect-_

Kenshin made it to the blue lantern, but there as no Kaoru. Kenshin tensed.

"Kaoru-dono?" he called. He knew that Kaoru would be able to distinguish his voice, even amongst the crowd, so it struck him odd that she did not answer. Kenshin just told himself that she must have been in the vacinity, and decided to give her a thorough speech on following orders when he found her and to try and remain calm.

But why couldn't he?

Kenshin just had a feeling that Kaoru wouldn't deliberately disobey him by wandering so far away from the designated waiting spot, and he started to get a bad feeling in his stomach. He started to frantically ask the surrounding vendors if they had remembered seeing a girl with Kaoru's physical descriptions, but to no avail. He at last came to the last vender in the vacinity of the blue lantern, an old Shinto priest. The old man's eyes darted in Kenshin's direction as he approached the booth.

"Excuse me, but have you seen-"

"Yes, I have," the priest told him calmly. "But I have a feeling that your young lady friend is in grave danger. She was here looking at my products when a young man came and pulled her off somewhere in that direction." The priest pointed his hand in the direction that the man had taken Kaoru in.

Kenshin didn't even bother turning back around and thanking the old priest after he had told him the direction (the priest surely didn't mind. He was as concerned as Kenshin.). The moment he had heard "danger", Kenshin used his god-like speed to jolt toward the general direction. once the passage ways became numerous, Kenshin casted out his ki to sense for Kaoru.

_Where are you Kaoru? _he asked as he stopped every few meters to sense her ki. Finally, he could feel Kaoru's distressed ki in a less populated and lighted area of the village. The moment he felt her distraught ki in this area, Kenshin's eyes began to swirl with molten amber as he unsheathed his sword. Kenshin made it to a dimly lit alley, where two men stood as sentries at the entrance while a crowd of eight men clustered in a circle.

The sheer sight caused Kenshin to charge at the sentries who only noticed his presence when it was too late...

* * *

_At that moment..._

All hell broke loose when the screams of the sentries bounced off the walls of the alley. The thug gang turned around at the screams, only to see their comrades bleeding across their chests, soon collapsing on the ground. Restless and horrified, the leader shot up and yelled, "Who the hell did that?! Whoever did better come out and face us!!" His other men brought out their daggers, rusty swords and spears, ready to charge at the perpetrator who interrupted their fun with the girl, who was still pinned to the ground. Whoever cut their sentries down was somewhere in the dark corridor, unseen to all.

And then a glowing pair of amber eyes shot out of the darkness, striking two more members.

The only thing that the other thugs could make out was a blur of red and blue as it struck the two men across their backs.

"What the holy fuck is that?!" they yelled as they bared their weapons with shaky hands. The blur turned out to be a figure, that was croaching in a far corner of the alley. It slowly stood to reveal a short statured man with flamming red hair and a sword at his hand. The figure remained faced to the wall as the boss spoke up when he recognized the figure.

"It's _you _again! Come to disturb us again while we had fun with this bit-"

His words came to a halt when the figure's head snapped around, not revealing the violet yet fierce eyes from before, but a threatening and practically glowing pair of amber. His sakabatou was flipped, and his intents were quite clear.

"He-he really IS a demon," the boss stuttered quietly. Then, a myth common in that area hit him. Flamming red hair? Glowing amber eyes? And a look that would send one to the Underworld and back? This man could only be one thing...

"It-it's Battousai boss!!" shrieked Botan. "It's Hitokiri Battousai!!" The remaining swarm jumped at this discovery as Kenshin eyed each and every one of them, as if he was picturing what manner to which each of them would be maimed. His eyes bore tunnels at the two men in the distance, one was one of the brutes from the first time, the other one was a weaker man, who was holding down Kaoru.

"We-we have no chance against him!" one of the men said, "let's just ditch the girl and get out of here!" Botan was one of the cowards who agreed as he released Kaoru, only to be punched down by his leader, who grabbed Kaoru off the ground and held a dagger to her throat. "NO!" he yelled, twisting Kaoru's arm behind her back. "We can beat him! Yeah! We can!" he told himself as he pressed the blade across her throat. But those were just empty words. He knew in is twisted gut that they didn't stand a chance against this demonic legend. But, this girl... It was all HER fault! He would not loose to this man twice, even if he had to kill this broad along with himself!

"K-KILL HIM!!" he commanded. His lackeys at first hesitated, but when another comrade was slashed across chest, they rushed in an effort to defeat this burden.

Only to drop like flies.

One man was slashed right beneath his throat, piercing his voice box, while another was cut along his biceps, severing his tendons which he would need to properly hold a weapon. The last was stabbed in his leg muscles and ankle; he would walk with a limp for the remainder of his life.

It was clear that Kenshin was not aimed to kill these men, only to maim them and scar them for life like they had probably scarred Kaoru.

Two men remained: the leader and the nimble man, who was probably the one who lead Kaoru to this dank place.

Botan's hand shook uncontrolably as he stood his ground, Kenshin nearing closer and closer with vengence in his eyes. Botan took an ill-fated leap of faith and charged recklessly toward the approaching figure, only to have the sight of that figure disappear, not because he had used his god-like speed to vanished into thin air, but because the enraged red-head slashed him across the eyes, blinding him for life. His squirms and writhing went unnoticed by Kenshin as he stepped right over him, and pointed his sword at the last man, who had a dagger to Kaoru's throat. She remained limp in the ugly man's clutches, her eyes squeazed shut to avoid looking at the scene before her and her mouth was gagged for no reason.

"Release her. NOW." Kenshin demanded.

Kenshin could feel the man's tremors through the ground. Yes. He wanted to feel this man's fear. He deserved it after making Kaoru feel such fear. But it wasn't enough to frighten the oaf: he needed to feel pain.

"I said 'release her'," Kenshin repeated with even more ferity in his voice. If he did not release her in two seconds, he would cut him down regardless. The leader trembled moreso, and it almost looked as if he was going to give in, but he instead foolishly did the unthinkable.

"I-I WON'T LOOSE TO YOU AGAIN!" he shouted out of fear and desperation as he slashed Kaoru across the throat, sending her to spiral toward the ground. The dimwit didn't even pay attention to Kenshin's almost demonic looking face; he, like all the rest, charged with blinding madness toward him, hopping that the red-head was caught off gaurd after harming the woman. And as if history were repeating itself, the man slashed his dagger across thin air, and only felt an eerie and enraged presence behind him when it was too late.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji!!"

The pain was too unbearable as the leader of the bandits felt the slick blade sear a path of red, hot lava across his back. His vision went white as the force of the blade practically blew him across the alley, making him collided front-faced into the opposite wall, leaving him to fall right on the crevice-like wound on his back. With a broken nose and broken back, this pitiful man's fate was unclear, for he would never be able to move again.

A roll of thunder rumbled in the distance as light rain began to trickle from the starless, cloudy sky. Kaoru remained on the ground, clutching her wounded neck. Fortunately, it was only a light scratch, so her life was not in danger. She finally opened her eyes for the first time, and saw a sight that would remain with her for a very long time.

Eleven men sprawled on the ground, surrounded by their own blood. They were cut and slashed in all sorts of places, and the most horrid part was that though they were maimed in so many places, it appeared that all of them were still alive, feeling every ounce of pain. Kaoru began to hyperventalate at the scene as she wondered who could have done such a thing, even to men as disgusting as these. She had heard a man speaking, but, the voice was unfamiliar to her. It was low, harsh, and threatening. The one responsible must have been even more horrific than these men, a true demon. Just then, the voice spoke up from the entrance of the alley.

"Get up," it ordered her. Kaoru's heart froze at the severity in the voice as she turned to face the alley's entrance. What she saw caused her entire body to freeze.

It was her Kenshin, but it wasn't him at the same time. His posture was stiff and alert, and the sword at his hand was held so that the blade was facing downward, with blood dripping from it. What scared her the most aside from his change of voice and dialogue were his eyes: his eyes were not the gentle violet that she had grown attached to. They were instead a faintly glowing amber.

"I said 'get up'!" he order her again. He was not shouting, but his voice was still menacing. Kaoru flinched at his crude dialogue. "I told you to stay were you were Kaoru! You deliberately disobeyed my direct orders, and now look what happened!" Kenshin scolded as he flicked the blood from his blade, returning it to its sheath. But to Kaoru, each word was as if he was stabbing her again and again in the heart. He was so mad, and it was all her fault. He hated her so much at the moment, and yet all she could do was stay sitting pathetically on the dirt-turned-muddy ground, as if wallowing in the turmoil caused solely by her.

Kenshin spun on his heel and began walking toward the exit. "We're going home now Kaoru. Get up and walk."

Even though he began to walk, Kaoru remained on the ground, clutching her throat, and she then began to cry.

"Get up Kaoru. I will not help you get up." he told her harshly as he began to move again. If he had turned to face Kaoru again, he would have seen her struggle to get from her spot, but the fear induced by his behavior and appearence practically turned her legs to mud as well. She was sure that he would leave her behind if she didn't get up, so why couldn't she do one thing on her own? She couldn't afford to make Kenshin hate her even more by disobeying him again, but she needed help. Kaoru wanted him to come and pick her up, soothe her with his gentle words and touch, but she knew he would not. If only she could call out to him, who was separating himself farther and farther away from her.

With her legs, throat, and heart weak, Kaoru gathered whatever little strength and courage she had left in her to recieve Kenshin one last time.

". . . Ken-shin. . . "

He was several meters away from her position, and the rain was beginning to pick up. Still, Kenshin was remarkably able to pick up the almost inaudible word that came from the mute girl's mouth. He halted his steps, and his furious amber eyes turned surprised as he spun around to look at Kaoru. She was still sitting on on the ground, clutching her throat and crying profusely, but was mouthing his name, though no sound came from her lips.

_She said, my name, _he thought as he stared wide-eyed at her. _Her second word was my name! _Though he was surprised with joy that Kaoru finally spoke, he was surprised with shame at the sight, and furthermore, his actions.

_Oh no..._ Kenshin thought, as he continued to stare at Kaoru's state. What had he said to her? He knew that she was weak and fragile - especially with what the same men intended to do to her, even if she didn't remember them - and he still lashed out at her in his anger. How could he have frightened her moreso than she already was? He knew that Kaoru wasn't the kind to go against his orders; she must have had a good reason to have moved, and those men where obviously targetting her. She couldn't pyhsically defend herself against those thugs, and, she couldn't verbally defend herself against his own accusations. Kaoru must have been frightened at his demonic rampage. Kenshin had noone to blame but himself.

In an instant, his eyes returned to their calming violet color and Kenshin rushed to Kaoru. He kneeled to her level, but she didn't even seem to notice him, she was crying so much. "Kaoru-dono. Kaoru-dono," he nudged her gently, but recieved no response. "I'm so sorry Kaoru-dono. I didn't mean to act that way toward you. Please forgive me for my behavior," he pleaded to her in a gentle tone. Kaoru continued to whimper softly as her chest heaved up and down with her sobs. She still held her throat in her hands, and Kenshin made ways to inspect her injury. As he moved his hand to her neck, a red cord fell from her clutch. At first Kenshin mistakened it for blood, and he gently pulled Kaoru's hand away from neck, which was no struggle at all because Kaoru lost all voluntary control of her hands. He gently pryed open her fist, and the item that he saw in her hand caused his eyes to soften.

It was a small talisman, made of a light blue and a green stone. He noticed a verse engraved in the green stone, and he squinted to read it.

_To bring eternal harmony and inner peace to its giver._

Now it was all making sense to Kenshin. Kaoru HAD moved from her spot, but she only went around the surrounding boothes. The picture of the old Shinto priest came to mind. She must of visited his booth last and bought the talisman from him before one of these bastards came and took her.

The talisman.

It was clearly meant to bring happiness to whomever had it. It was clear that Kaoru went out on her own to buy this for his sake. Kaoru might have been naive, but she was not stupid. Why else would she stay up, glancing at Kenshin when he so sadly gazed at the stars almost every night, and even going so far as to try to comfort him on one night? This girl's empathic abilities astonished him, and to think he was so cruel to her just minutes earlier.

The remarkable happened to Kaoru when Kenshin took her in his arms and embraced her, thanking her for the talisman and soothing her gently. Kaoru wanted nothing more but to hug him back, but all she could do was cry into his gi as the rain continued to pour.

* * *

Kenshin gently wrapped some bandages around his arm after applying some anti-septic to the wound. That thug leader managed to cut him on his arm. He must have felt pretty proud of himself. Alas, that would be the last ounce of pride that he would ever feel. He had already wrapped Kaoru's wounded neck in some bandages. It was a definate good thing that the wound was not deep; if it hadn't severed her airway, it could have damaged her voice box, which would have left her mute for the remainder of her life.

"There. We're all better," he announced as he tied off the bandage. They had cleaned themselves off and dressed in thick yukata to prevent sickness from being exposed to the elements. Kaoru tried to avoid much eye contact with Kenshin, but couldn't keep away. It was so odd how Kenshin could change from one personality to another. But, who was Kenshin really? Was what the villagers said earlier about him true? True, he had been quite savage to the thugs and to her, but... He was back to normal now. Kenshin would just change back to hurt her, would he?

Kenshin noticed Kaoru's timid behavior toward him ever since the got back home. No doubt that he frightened her wits out. Kenshin wouldn't blame Kaoru if she hated him, just as the villagers did...

He reached behind him and presented a box to Kaoru. "Here Kaoru-dono. I got this for you." Kaoru looked at it for a moment before taking the box. She opened it to a reveal a shimmering indigo cloth. Kaoru softly picked the cloth up, the silky feeling massaging her fingertips. It was pure beauty.

"It's a hair ribbon," Kenshin told Kaoru, who turned to meet his eye. "I didn't really forget anything at the festival... I went to go buy this for you. It's nothing much, but... I hope you like it Kaoru-dono."

For a split second, Kaoru was lost for thoughts and was about to reply with her usual nod, but then she remembered that she finally got her voice back. Kenshin told her not to stress her throat for awhile, but she felt it was the right thing to do in this case.

"Thank you," she said very quietly, accompanied by a light bow.

Kenshin softly smiled at her cerulean eyes. "Your welcome."

* * *

That night, after the rains had receeded, Kaoru tossed and turned in her futon. She saw that for this night, Kenshin was sleeping peacfully, hopefully thanks to her happiness charm. So why couldn't she go to sleep?

_My heart hurts,_ she thought to herself while clutching her chest. It was not not the backstabbing pain that she felt in her chest when Kenshin scolded her, it was an aching pain that she was never familiar with. Now it would ache whenever she thought deep emotions about Kenshin, emotions that she wasn't even sure of. She decided that it was best to just breathe deeply clear her mind of thoughts. This technique seemed to have worked, only to have the faint image of a red-head in the back of her mind.

The lost nymph princess might have been completety unaware of this feeling, but it sparked a memory that might not have even belonged to her. The word "love" was an enigmous feeling to Kaoru, but she would accept that her feelings for Kenshin were much more than a sheer attachment to him.

* * *

Post a/n: So I know that I introduced some of vocab that - honest to G-d - most of you are probably unfamiliar with. It's okay. I probably wouldn't have known this stuff either if it weren't for my Asian Art class. Let this be a REAL Japanese vocabulary lesson in vocab AND ancient cultures of the arts and religion:

Bunraku - the Japanese art of puppetry. It's pretty similar to Western puppetry, and the puppets are very elaborate. But, since this is a Japanese art, the are differences from Western puppetry. While we are familiar with sock puppets and marionettes, bunraku puppets are controlled by levers in the back of the doll and the dolls are quite big and too complicated to be controlled by simple strings. So the puppeteers have to be on the stages controlling the puppets. The puppeteers include the master puppeteer and his apprentices. The master puppeteer wears a black mask that covers his face along with black clothing while his pupils just wear black clothing.

Amitabha (known as "Amida" in Japan) - pretty much Japan's main depiction of the Buddha; Buddha's image and purpose in Japan - as well as China, Vietnam, Korea, and Tibet - is pretty distinguishable from India's original Buddha. I'm not gonna give a whole lecture, but one aspect of Buddha in Far East Asian Buddhism (otherwise known as the Pure Land sect of Buddhism) was that there was not only one Buddha: there were several. Amida is one of them.

Haniwa - statues that were common around grave sites and memorials in the late Kofun Period; were said to house the spirits of the dead inside of them. They could be depicted as figures (people, animals) or ordinary pots. The stood on cynlindrical stands in order to "stand gaurd" at tombs.

Bodhisattva - in Buddhism, a bodhisattva was a being who has reached enlightment, but instead of descending into Nirvana, stayed on Earth to teach the teachings of Buddha. In art, two bodhisattvas are usually depicted on either side of the Buddha.

Dotaku - ritual bells that appeared in the Late Yayoi Period; were inspired by the bells seen in China, but were constructed with a different method of the Lost Wax Technique (evident in these notches seen in the bell. I think they might have used a Korean version of the Lost Wax Technique), were smaller in size (the Chinese versions were HUGE), and purpose (the Chinese used their bells to play music, while the dotaku were most likely used for religious purposes). Dotaku were most likely used for religion because they were found buried in clusters on sacred land. Dokatu were only found in the Yayoi Period.

That's all for the history lesson. The happiness charm I created isn't legit: I couldn't find an example of an authentic Chinese happiness charm, so I created my own. It was hard to mix and match these stones, because each precious stone has a meaning, are found in different areas, and the color of a stone may - in general - mean one specific trait, but the stone itself may have an entirely different meaning! So I just stuck to the basics, chose two colors that had the traits I wanted (which were green and light blue), and then chose the two stones that had roughly the same traits and colors. The stones mentioned above are blue lace agate and jade. Agate is said to help people with depression and to find the peace and tranquility that they need in their souls. Jade is pretty abundent, and is suppose to bring luck, among other traits. Light blue stones usually stand for harmony, understanding, journeys, peace, and spiritual healing, and green stones generally stand for marriage, harmony, balance, handicraft, joy, luck, , and abundance. So I think you catch my drift and perhaps a mixed message.

Now onto character analysis. I decided to make Kaoru ooc in this fic. It's not a bad thing in my opinion. Her naivity is not Miaka Yuuki's stupid type, more like Chii's and Nyuu's innocent type. They're cute and beautiful, but they are totally defenseless (especially since they can only say their names). So you can see where I got that idea from. Don't worry. As Kaoru begins to develop more, she will get some of her typical outbursts (of course it won't be until much later). I hope I didn't make Kenshin too harsh in this chapter, especially toward this characterization of Kaoru. It actually didn't turn out to be as harsh as I pictured it in my notes...

But yay! Kaoru's in love! And btw, no Kaoru didn't get raped, and no, Kenshin ain't a demon. But- ha. I ain't going to tell you. You'll just have to wait and see.

And one last note, I'm going to really start buckling down on the writing. I joined a LJ community dedicated to ranting about fan fiction, and to prevent myself from being bashed, I'm going to sweep through my fanfics, correct them, revise them over time, and even deleting some of them. Well, only one so far. So, until we meet again...


	7. The Loom

**Chapter 6: The Loom**

Ever since the Summer Festival, Kenshin remained close to Kaoru, and was weary of letting her out his sight, even when he was forced to go to the fields to herd the cattle. He knew that she knew better than to go out during the day without his supervision, but he couldn't help but feel worrysome by constantly telling her to never leave the house.

_"Kaoru-dono, I'm leaving now. DO NOT go outside until I get back. Okay?" _He instigated on the "do not" part, though he didn't use a harsh voice while saying so: he didn't want to frighten Kaoru moreso than he already did at the festival.

Now that Kaoru could speak again, she started saying simple words in return. _"Okay. Bye, Kenshin." _She'd end with a small wave and smile, which Kenshin would gesture with a smile and a nod.

The Summer Festival changed both members of the household, not only Kenshin. Ever since Kaoru gained her voice back, she began to talk more and more, with more effluency each day. Kenshin also noticed the change in her gestures of glee: she did not tackle him whenever he came through the door after a day of work. A simple "Hello. Welcome back" was all she gave - and maybe a hug when she was especially happy to see him after a long day.

But the festival also changed Kenshin in more protective manners.

On some particular days, Kenshin would stay out late in order to search for Kaoru's family. He would say the usual: "Kaoru-dono, I'm leaving now and I won't be back till late... Stay in the house, okay?" Kaoru of course would stay put the entire time while Kenshin would scour the woods and nearby countryside in search of Kaoru's lost family. In a small way, Kenshin was glad that he would not only be searching for the young woman's family who was probably missing her dearly, but he could also watch over the forest as well, since he had postponed that duty since the sudden arrival of Kaoru in his home.

But after two weeks of searching, Kenshin could find no leads to Kaoru's family.

He had asked everyone on the countryside if they were missing a daughter, sister, niece, grand-daughter - or even wife - matching Kaoru's description: from a middle aged couple with more than six children, to an elderly couple whose children were with their own families. And though he absolutely hated the task, Kenshin even asked the slimey men at the nearby seaport if they had been acquintanted with a girl with Kaoru's description.

_"No, I don't ever remember meeting a girl with eyes as blue as that,"_ Kenshin remembered one brawly fisherman saying. _"But I'd definately like to be acquintated with a girl as fine as that, if ya know what I mean."_

It was a good thing Kenshin had his sword at hip in lewd situations such as this one. He only had to rest his hand on the hilt to send the message saying, "don't push it" to the fisherman, and he stopped.

Even if one of those fishermen happened to actually be of kin with Kaoru, he doubted that he would ever let her simply go with them. Now that Kenshin thought about it, he never completely trusted any of the people whom he interviewed. Since he saw the young man who coaxed Kaoru into that alley, Kenshin remembered that slave traders came in all shapes and sizes - that elderly couple that he met could have very well been some undercover traders posing as a frailing and innocent husband and wife. And even if the individual was not a slave trader, perhaps Kaoru ran away from them after her own kin was responsible for doing some obscenity to her... Kenshin did not even want to think about what could have possibly happened in her unknown past. Frankly, he would rather Kaoru remain in her amnesiatic state if it spared her the possible pain and humiliation that she could have suffered back then.

In conclusion, Kenshin just didn't trust anybody. With all that had happened to her that he had seen for himself, how could he? With all of the abuse and debauchery that happened to women everyday in the world, Kenshin believed Kaoru was much better off with one of the few, more-than-decent men in the world than a man that Kaoru probably couldn't remember if she tried. Sure, Kenshin was a man himself, but he would never fall to the level of one of those slave traders (whom he had hoped would be suffering through there own personal hell for the rest of their days).

That night, Kenshin came home to Kaoru, who was sitting by the lantern light, practicing some calligraphy. Kenshin was right on another thing: Kaoru was certainly improving on her script.

"Good evening, Kaoru-dono," he greeted. Kaoru immediately turned her head and smiled at his arrival. "Good evening, Kenshin," Kaoru greeted back. She closed the book and sat the brush down, turning her body towards Kenshin as he approached the table to sit.

"Kaoru-dono," he began, looking into her eyes, "I searched for your family today... but recieved no leads on their where abouts."

"I see," Kaoru simply said, no certain emotion in her eyes.

"But I must be honest when I say that I haven't been putting much effort into the cause, Kaoru-dono... For that, I am sorry, but -" he inhaled and exhaled for what he was about to say.

"I think you would be safer if you stay with me from now on Kaoru-dono. If you do, I swear to protect you from any harm that may come your way. But if you truely want to find your family, I will search to the ends of the Earth." Kenshin continued to stare in her cerulean eyes, his own eyes swirling with passionate protectiveness. Kaoru, stayed still for a moment, but then spoke up with a smile.

"I want... to stay with you, Kenshin. Always."

In her mind, Kaoru was not hesitating with making a decision: she was just awed that Kenshin actually asked her to stay with him under his protection. Though she had dreamed that Kenshin would ask her to stay with him on more personal affairs, this was one step closer for her to reveal her feelings to him.

Meanwhile, Kenshin nodded and showed a bright smile at his now official tenant's final decision. "Alright, Kaoru-dono. If that is what you'd like."

* * *

Day after day, Kaoru continued to obey Kenshin's orders: to just stay indoors until Kenshin came back in the evening. It was very simple at first: when he first told her to stay in the house, there was plently to learn and do. But now that she had grown accustomed to the daily chores and how-to around the house, the livliness that Kaoru use to uphold was slowly descending into immense boredom. Even her calligraphy practice wasn't enticing her enough.

So, Kaoru found herself finished with every chore several hours before Kenshin's due arrival home. Kaoru tried to read books to occupy her time. The idea soon flopped just as the cover of the books did, strewn on the about the floor where she sat. After that, she often found herself pacing around the cabin, so anxious for Kenshin to come home she was. When her feet grew too tired from walking in circles, Kaoru just plopped down on a nearby mat and sat. All she could do was wait for Kenshin to come home to brighten his day - and so he could brighten her's.

On this particular day, Kenshin decided to take the long route home from the fields - the route that cut through the forest - so he could patrol his forest; therefore, he came home much later than expected. That night, he was able to fend off some hunters who further threatened the dwindling wolf population by hunting them for their fur. The local pack was suffering so much in due months. So small was their prey populations that they began to hunt near humans. It was only a matter of time before a human fell victim to the wolves' starvation, if not already. Kenshin wished that he could help them more on a regular basis, but he had his own human charge to feed.

Kenshin never once thought of Kaoru as a nuisence: he enjoyed taking care of her very much and was now glad that he had a permanent human companion. However, he couldn't deny the fact that he lost a lot of patrol time since her arrival. But he always remembered the words of his mother: as a protector of nature, he had to protect all who fell into his arms, be they creature or human. Kenshin had absolutely no regrets helping the woman whom he found helpless by the river bank. But, he would have come to Kaoru's aid in either civilization or nature. In all honesty, Kenshin would never turn down a human who needed his help anywhere, even if his first priority was to protect nature first.

He approached his cabin at the hour of the pig. Even for Kenshin, he was bushed after the work of the day. Normally, he would come home from the fields, sleep for three or four hours, then pick up patrolling for the night. Not so when Kaoru came along, but he was looking forward to coming home, greeting Kaoru, and then sinking down into the padding of his futon.

"I'm home!" he announced to his housemate, only to recieve no response. Kenshin immediately thought to the worst.

_She didn't go out of the cabin did she? _he thought worridly as he allowed his eyes to wander his home. Heavy relief fell upon his heart has his eyes fell upon a lump of padding moving in a steady up and down movement behind the table. With catlike grace, Kenshin moved around the table to find Kaoru sleeping heavily under the blanket, still dressed in her day yukata. Around her laid books and brushes, most of them open and bookmarked at certain pages. As he gently picked her up to lay her in her proper sleeping spot, he looked around the interior, which was spick and span, with not a stray thread out of place. The floors wear swept clean, the dishes were washed and put away - she even folded the laundry that Kenshin had brought in that morning but remained unfolded. After unfolding her futon, Kenshin laid Kaoru in the bedding and tucked her in, tugging her hair ribbon out afterwards. And she didn't rouse from her sleep not once.

_Kaoru-dono must be exhausted from doing so much in one day, _Kenshin thought, surveying the cabin once more. Kaoru had never done so much before: Kenshin assigned them both an equal amount of chores to do, though he left the most laborous ones for him to do. Normally, she would finish with her sweeping and the dishes and straightening up the interior, and would spend the remainder of the day flipping through books or practicing her calligraphy until Kenshin came home, still boasting with energy. This night, however, she was completely worn out, not to mention bored, judging from the scattered books. _You must be so bored, being cooped up in here the whole day, _Kenshin thought with a remorsful smile. Before he even realized it, Kenshin's hand found its way to her soft, raven tresses. He stroked the shiny locks barely, only enough to allow the touch to tingle his finger tips, but, he soon drew back his fingers, the vestige of the touch stilling lingering.

Anyway, he continued to think of Kaoru's position in the household. By no means was she meant to be a servent: Kenshin thought himself unworthy of even having a simple unpaid helper. Kaoru did her part around the house each and everyday, and yet she got nothing in return, though she probably didn't think anything of it. Her reward was to see Kenshin's smile every evening. But that did not help the fact that he got freedom - even in work - while she was confined to the house all day and was only allowed out with him as an escort - servents got more freedom than she. Kenshin almost wished that he wasn't so over-protective of the girl, but he couldn't take any risks of something happening to her in his abscence.

Changing into his sleeping yukata and unfolding his futon, Kenshin glanced over at Kaoru's figure once more before settling down himself. He'd make it up to Kaoru soon. How exactly he wasn't sure, but he'd come up with something in the morning. But for now, it was time for the both of them to get some rest for the night.

* * *

The next day was their usual trip to the village market place. Though she was still miffed from her first trip to the village, Kaoru learned to ignore the scowls of the villagers who showed resentment toward her red-head. If only she knew why these villagers silently scorned him so...

"All that's left is the rice and soy sauce Kaoru-dono, then we'll be off toward home for the day," Kenshin smiled at Kaoru, who was carrying the tofu bucket. She didn't see it, but Kenshin's smile soon drooped as he scratched his chin and looked to the sky. He was still thinking what to do or get for Kaoru to make up for her mild mistreatment.

_I need to get something for her that will occupy her time while I am away. But what? Orooo. This is harder than I thought!_

Looking to his side, he found the Kaoru was not there. "Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin called as he searched for her. He then spotted her walking toward a looming shop, but why that shop in particular all of a sudden? Kenshin centered his senses on the conversation between two of the shop's employees:

"Oh no! The warp is all tangled up!" said one weaver, as she and her companion tried their best to untangle the threads that held the weft strings together. But it seemed that the more they dabbled, the more tangled the threads became. The whole weaving - which was beginning to model some blossom patterns - was in danger of becoming completely tangled.

"Excuse me, but, I think I can help," came a quiet voice from behind them. The two women turned around to see a raven-haired girl walk right pass them toward the loom. She was soon followed by the red-head that seemed to be well known in the village (they heard rumors about him, but they didn't really care to dabble in those affairs), who stood by the two employees as the girl seemed to get down to fixing the problem. One employee made ways to interrupt - she didn't want this forward girl to ruin the weaving moreso - but then she stopped, wanting to see what this girl would exactly do.

Kaoru first dabbled with the heddles, which seemed to be in place, but her careful hands soon travelled up on set of heddles to it's designated shaft, where she found that the shaft was improperly fastened, leaving this set of heddle loose, which resulting in untamed threads. Kaoru smirked at her reduction and proceeded toward fixing the problem, while the three spectators just stood and watched her skills. After adjusting the proper knobs, Kaoru plucked at the warps to makes sure that they were under the same tension as the others, picked up the shuttle, and continued to finishing the weft, only to find her self drawn in completing the row after that and so forth.

The employees and Kenshin stood as they awed at Kaoru's fast weaving, Kenshin most of all.

"Wow! She fixed the problem all by herself! And she picked up where we left off! I've never seen a weaver like her! Do you know her?" asked one of the employees. Kenshin shook his head at the sound of the woman's voice - he was busy staring at Kaoru.

"Oro? Oh! Yes: she is my tenant. But, I've never knew that she knew how to weave - and so well."

"Well, we sure could use a weaver like her working at our shop. How about I offer your friend a job here?"

Kenshin flinched at the generous offer, though he made sure that it was undetected. "I'm sorry, but she is not currently looking for work," Kenshin told the woman, who then looked suspiciously at how the controversial red-head was making a decision for the young woman who showed so much skill in the field. Not wanting to gain any untrustworthy eyes, Kenshin decided that little white lie would fill in the void for now. "Er, she's recovering from an illness - and I don't want to put too much stress on her, that I don't." It wasn't a complete lie. Kaoru was recovering from some wounds to the neck, which was kind of like an illness, and it was true that he didn't want to put much stress on her voice. Still, the main real reason was still his lack of trust in the towns people. They knew that Kaoru was boarding with Kenshin, and since it was pretty obvious that half of the residents didn't like him very much, who knew what kind of treatment they would put Kaoru through.

The lady just stood and looked into Kenshin's confident violet eyes, and soon nodded in defeat. "Very well, but I would still like to thank the girl for fixing our loom and saving our work. How about I give you a loom for half off?"

"Oro! Really?" Kenshin asked quizically and wide-eyed at the employee. She simply nodded.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, who was still weaving away on the loom, while quietly exchanging words with the first employee. The look on Kaoru's face while she was weaving was truely at a content state, focused on nothing except for the weaving. Kenshin figured that this was the make-up gift for Kaoru.

"Okay, I will take you up on your offer. But first I must ask her for her permission." The employee saw no point in this, as it was clear in her eyes that she just wanted to make the sale final. Kenshin just snickered nervously and trudged on to Kaoru, who was finishing another row.

"Kaoru-dono, how would you like to have a loom of your own? The nice miss over here offered me a deal to buy one, but it is up to you to decide the final verdict."

Kaoru's face brightened at Kenshin's generous offer. "Yes! I would like one very much!" Kenshin smiled at her answer. "Okay Kaoru-dono!" He turned to the employee. "I'd like to buy a loom like this one, please," he requested, pointing a finger at the loom Kaoru was currently working on.

"Very good sir. This is one of our finer models, and it usually goes for larger price, but since I am giving it to you half off, it will be the cost of a standard loom."

"Oh! Thank you very much!" Kaoru bowed to the employee, who smiled in return as she went into the store to grab a loom, the first employee exchanging money with Kenshin.

Once they went inside the shop to retrieve the loom, leaving Kenshin and Kaoru outside, Kenshin looked up to ask Kaoru a question that has been on his mind since he first saw her fixing the loom.

"Kaoru-dono, where did you learn to use a loom like that? I don't recall having a loom anywhere stored in the cabin..."

"You don't," Kaoru answered siftly. "But, to tell you the truth, I don't know what exactly happened just now. It just, came to me... Like I've used one before..."

Kenshin saw that she was trying to recover some more of her lost memories, but Kenshin just patted her shoulder. "Don't strain yourself Kaoru-dono. You remembered this much, so you'll remember the rest in due time." The smile of reassurance that Kenshin gave her just lit her cheeks.

"Okay, Kenshin."

* * *

All items on that day's shopping list were accounted for, except for one missing pail of rice and one added loom. Kenshin would just have to get the rice on his next day of pay, but for now, Kaoru's happiness was all that matter. She was gleeful ever since they left the market with her new loom, and he did not want to shatter that by announcing that he had to cut out on the rice in order to pay for the rest of the loom.

The loom was fit for indoor and outdoor use, so Kenshin sat it on a stand that stood under a shaded area of the cabin, along with some supplies that came with the loom.

"Thank you again for the loom, Kenshin," Kaoru thanked in her usual, soft-spoken tone of voice. Kenshin shook his head, his ruby bangs shifting from side to side as he did so.

"Don't thank me just yet Kaoru-dono, I have more to tell you." Kaoru seemed confused at first, but then Kenshin approached her steadily.

"This loom is yours Kaoru-dono: you can use it whenever you'd like," he reannounced followed by more, "and since this is suited to be used indoors or outdoors, you may use it in the yard while I am away, so long as you promise to stay in the yard and that you go back into the cabin if you sense anybody coming. Alright, Kaoru-dono?"

Kaoru's face glowed at Kenshin's new regulations, which, unbeknowst to Kaoru, made Kenshin's heart nearly skip a beat. She blushed as she said, "thank you, Kenshin. I promise." She had meant to just hug her caretaker, but it then turned into her characteristic glomp from her earlier days staying with Kenshin.

"You're welcome Kao-oro!" Kenshin squeeked as they went tumbling to the ground.

* * *

After Kenshin had went inside to prepare dinner, Kaoru was left with her new treasured possession.

_What should I weave first?_ she thought as her fingers thumbled with the ice blue and snow white threads. _Maybe I could weave something for Kenshin..._she blushed deeply. But she didn't think a mere weaving could possibly show how she felt about Kenshin, let alone thanking him properly for all he had done for her. She noticed that no matter how many times she hugged or glomped Kenshin, it was never, ever enough to express her love for him. That, and she had to find a way that would allow him to reveal his feelings as well, for he did not return the casual but meaningful hugs that she gave to him.

_There has to be another way... to show how much I love Kenshin... _the nymph princess thought as she gazed up from the loom to the descending twilight above.

* * *

A/n: I admit: I have no knowledge of the loom and I was too lazy to look up how to use one. So there.

Actually, I did a little research, but not enough to find out which types of looms were used in Japan. And not enough to actually get the jist of weaving. Here's some vocab:

Weft

Warp

Heddle

Shaft

Shuttle

And all I learned is that "kasuri" is the proper word used in Japan for fabric that has been woven using dyed fibers to create images on the weaving, using the ikat technique of weaving.

Like in my previous oneshot, "Their Secret Rendezvous" I used traditional Far East Asian time keeping. It's in ordinance with the zodiac (Snake, Pig, Ox, etc...) and goes as followed:

Rat: 11:00-12:59 pm

Ox: 1:00-2:59 am

Tiger: 3:00-4:59 am

Rabbit: 5:00-6:59 am

Dragon: 7:00-8:59 am

Snake: 9:00-10:59 am

Horse: 11:00-12:59 am

Ram: 1:00-2.59 pm

Monkey: 3:00-4:59 pm

Rooster: 5:00-6:59 pm

Dog: 7:00-8:59 pm

Pig: 9:00-10:59 pm

So next chapter will go more into depth about Kenshin and Kaoru's feelings for each other, and after that (Lord willing) we will finally dabble into the origins of Kenshin, followed by some, _passion_. But I'm not going to give it all away, so, you'll all have to suffer until I either update this story, AUM, and/or B&B. Sorry! xD

Cya soon!

P.S. - Do you think I should have Kenshin talk more,_ Kenshin-like_? You know, the whole "This one/Sessha" and "that I am/de gozaru" deal? I've done it ocassionally, but for the most part, I've kept the dialogue simple. Let me know what you think!


	8. To Be a Man and a Woman

**Chapter 7: To Be a Man and a Woman**

**Warnings: Nothing intimate. Just, "the talk".**

Every morning when Kaoru woke up, she routinely stretched and breathed in the fresh air of the new day, soon to quickly glance over to Kenshin, who was usually up before her, preparing breakfast for the two. This morning was different. Much different.

Kaoru really didn't feel like getting up from her futon, not much emotionally, but physically. Her stomach felt bloated and nauseated, and there was an aching in between her legs: a terrible aching that she had never remembered experiencing before. That, and she felt a dampness around her thighs...

As she croached up in a sitting position, hissing in pain, Kaoru pulled the cover from legs, and her eyes went wide with fright at the sight.

The sheets, and the lower half of her yukata, were splotched with blood.

Kaoru was so frightened that she didn't even have it in her to scream. Was she attacked during the night and just by sheer luck she survived? If they were attacked, then where was Kenshin? Oh Kami - Kenshin wasn't up like he normally was! Where was he? Kaoru hurridly glanced toward all odd places of the house, through the window, the kitchen area. When her frantic eyes finally settled on the sleeping man a few feet away from her, Kaoru's heart settle a tad, but continued to beat rapidly at the sight of the red that stained her pure sheets. She ruled out that they weren't attacked; afterall, she had no open wounds around the bleeding and Kenshin would have noticed a presence outside of their door in a pin drop, and would have rushed to the rescue as usual. As another aching pain ran through her hips and lower regions, Kaoru rubbed her lower belly, easing some of the pain through some effort. What was going on, for her to bleed so much and not have a wound?

She decided to crawl over to Kenshin's futon, where he laid sleeping. Indeed, it was quite odd that Kenshin wasn't up. Kaoru oh so wanted to watch her handsome caretaker sleeping peacefully, but the pain reminded her that she needed his help, before it was too late.

"Kenshin? Kenshin??" Kaoru nudged him, slowly rousing him from his slumber.

"Hmmm? What is it Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked, running his hand through his even messier ruby mane and rolling his shoulders to the point of the yukata sleeve falling off his shoulder, revealing his biceps and muscled left breast.

"I-I-" Kaoru stuttered, choking on sobs of fear that threatened to release themselves. "I'm bleeding Kenshin."

At that, Kenshin became fully alert as his eyes widened in concern. "What!? Where are you hurt Kaoru-dono!?" Kenshin asked as his eyes already began his investigation of her upper body.

"It-it's aching... in my stomach and between my thighs... And, I don't have any cuts or open wounds around where the bleeding is happening..." Kaoru bit her lip as her stomach ached some more and as a tear slipped from her eye.

Kenshin just sat confused. Kaoru had said that she her stomach hurt and that she was bleeding, but, she didn't have the symptoms of having an internal stomach problem. Plus, she didn't catch or eat anything odd that would cause such a problem. If it wasn't that, then...

"Kaoru-dono," he asked calmy, "can you, tell me where you are bleeding, if you may?"

Kaoru sniffled, trailing her hand onto her belly. "Well, it-it hurts in between my legs, and, the blood is only around my thighs..." she revealed as Kenshin's eyes slowly trailed down her waist to where the bleed originated.

All Kenshin could say at that time was: "Oroooooo..."

Oh Kami.

Not THIS.

How could have Kenshin been so oblivious? Since Kaoru had arrived, he had totally forgotten that she was a woman, and that once a month, every woman had her - her -

Oh! How could he have lost track of time!? Why didn't he tell her this beforehand!? Then again, how could he tell her about this sort of, _thing_? He was her caretaker, so he was in some sort of position to tell her, but at the same time, he wasn't! It just seemed so lewd and perverted for him - a man - to tell an amnesiatic teenaged girl - whom he found out in the wilderness - about, _this._ Ohhh! What was he suppose to do!?

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked as she stared at him with worry and confusion, whose face was swirling with inner - and outer - confusion. Kenshin snapped back at Kaoru's voice. He just shook his head of the anxiety and tried to take as many deep breathes as he could.

"Everything is going to be fine Kaoru-dono. Don't worry," Kenshin began (though it seemed that he should be taking his own advice, since he was more excited than Kaoru), "just change out of that yukata and put on the dark blue yukata. Then I'll take you to the docotor, okay?" Kaoru nodded as Kenshin rose up, bringing Kaoru gently with him, and spun on his heel, in order to protect her decency while she changed. Kaoru wobbled to her chest and pulled out the darkest yukata that she could find. Once she pulled it out, she slipped the soiled sleeping yukata off of her body. Underneath the yukata revealed caked blood with other matter. Had that all come out of her body somehow?

Once she tied her obi around her loosely, she slowly turned around to find Kenshin already dressed and ready to go. She couldn't even begin to wobble over to the door before Kenshin picked her up into his arms, using his god-like speed to rush toward the village doctor.

* * *

An hour had passed since Kaoru was taken into the home of Ousugi Natsuye, the village doctor. Natsuye was a kind and aging medicine woman of the village, and despite her age and gender, was experienced in the field. She treated all people as equals when they were patients: there were no patients deemed "untreatable" in her eyes, be they good or bad (though if they were bad, she would make sure that they would sooner or later face the consequences of their vice by treating them with the best of care). She helped anyone in need; that was why Kenshin admired her so. Aside from that, Natsuye was one of the few villagers who was kind and trustworthy of Kenshin, and she had helped him with many patients that he had found in the forest, great and small, including his own injuries. In the situation of Kaoru, Natsuye was nothing but accepting and kind toward Kaoru as she took her in, but not before some snappy remarks:

_"Oh! So the rumors are true Himura-san: you've gotten yourself a woman. I've been wondering why you've been cooped up in that old hut of yours instead of running around the forest, tending to the wild. But I suppose you've been tending to the wild indoors."_

_Oroo_, Kenshin thought while scratching his head. _For an old woman, she sure does have a creative mind, but I guess that's gained from experience... _

Nonetheless, Kenshin was relieved that she was home when they had arrived, and even more, he was more glad than ever that the village doctor was a woman. Kenshin didn't care: if the doctor had been a man and happened to be the only one who could help Kaoru, Kenshin would have gone in the house with her, or better yet, he would have risked caring for Kaoru's situation by himself. In his mind, Kenshin tried to sound as chivilrous as he could, but in the end started to blush with self-embarrassment.

Just then, the door slid open, and Kaoru stepped out, followed by Natsuye. She carried a blank expression on her face, almost paled, but at least she wasn't in pain like she was an hour earlier.

"Well Ousugi-dono?" Kenshin began, speaking as if he was a mother of sorts, "is she going to be all right? How is she feeling?"

Natsuye just shook her head and laughed softly. "Oh, you naiive little fool. Of course she's going to be okay. It's not as if she has any internal hemmoraging!" Kenshin just laughed nervously as Natsuye turned around and gave Kaoru some envelopes and cloth.

"Now remember what I told you about folding the 'horse's saddle' Kaoru-chan, and drink this tea if the pain returns, and," Natsuye leaned into Kaoru's ear, "remember what I told you about _that_ sort of thing." She then gave Kaoru a mischievous grin and flicked her eyes toward the confused redhead. Kaoru returned the gesture with a smile on her face. "Thank you very much, Ousugi-san," Kaoru bowed. Natsuye just winked her old wrinkled eye.

"Come back anytime you need to, you hear!?" Natsuye shouted as Kenshin and Kaoru proceeded up the slooped path to their home, but not without waving goodbye.

"Are you sure that you do not want me to carry you, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked with sincerity. Kaoru just shook her head with a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure Kenshin. But thank you."

Kenshin nodded with a smile. "Alright Kaoru-dono. But if you don't feel up to it, just give the word."

Kaoru nodded also, and soon, an awkward silence befell upon them, with only the birds and the sounds of the insects making noise during the mid-morning hours. After five minutes of walking in silence, Kenshin made the first attempt to breaking the ice.

"So, what did you think of Ousugi-dono?" Kenshin asked. Kaoru was caught a little off-gaurd, probably because she had never heard Kenshin call anyone by the honorific "-dono" except for her.

"She's a very kind woman," Kaoru stated with soft smile. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't know what I'd be doing now." She laughed at herself as Kenshin sighed in embarrassment again. "Nor would I," he said under his breath.

Kenshin started up again to keep the talk going, though, he should not have spat out the first thought that came to his head.

"So what did the two of you talk abou-" Kenshin covered his mouth before he could finish. How could he be that dimwitted? Of COURSE he knew what they were talking about in there. He didn't need any clarification - ever.

"I'm so sorry for my rudeness Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin cried apologetically, bowing low and deeply. "Please forgive this one!"

Kaoru just stared down, flushed with pink. She looked to the side, trying to hide her blush. "It-it's okay Kenshin. You don't have to worry..."

Why did Kaoru bother? Kenshin just stood up and sighed with embarrassment yet again, probably self-loathing himself in his head as he walked ahead on the trail. But Kaoru's mind trailed back to her lengthy and eye-changing discussion that she had with the lady doctor...

_Natsuye finished re-tying Kaoru's obi, after teaching her how to fasten her "saddle" around her waist. "Remember Kaoru," she said, "you must change this ever so often, and stay indoors until your cycle ends."_

_"Are you sure that I will be alright, Ousugi-san?" Kaoru asked, her eyes downcasted. Natsuye just smiled. It was like teaching a preteen again._

_"Of course you will be!" Natsuye reassured. "This is all very normal for girls. This is a sign that you are a woman now. I doubt that this was even your first cycle." Natsuye was informed of Kaoru's amnesia by Kenshin, so she talked as if she was a mother telling her daughter the same. _

_"What do you mean, 'I'm a woman now'? I thought I already was one..." Natsuye laughed in her head at the girl's innocence. It was so - innocent, coming from a very pretty girl who was unaware the power she could have over men. She supposed it was time that they had "the talk"._

_"Well now," she began, clearing her throat, "I don't suppose you have heard of the 'eel and the cave', have you?" Kaoru shook her head. "As you already now Kaoru, men and women are very different physically. Up here," she pointed above Kaoru's torso, "and especially down there." She pointed to Kaoru's nether regions. "As I have explained before, you have what we call a 'cave', and men have an 'eel'." Kaoru could only curiously wonder what a man's eel could possibly look like, but before her imagination became to active, Natsuye settled her hand on Kaoru's hand. "Don't worry: I'll show you a diagram later," she told her. _

_"Now then, when two people - a man and a woman - want to make a baby, the man will put his 'eel' into the woman's 'cave', and will release the eel's 'seeds' into the cave." She allowed Kaoru to absorb this new - possibly mind-bloating - information, then she continued. "The seed will grow inside of the woman's cave for nine months. After that, the baby will be born."_

_Kaoru's lips formed an "O" when she reveled in this new information. So that was where babies came from. But that just lead to more questions for Kaoru, like how did the man and the woman, _do it_, exactly? She didn't ask that aloud, so she instead asked this:_

_"How does the baby come out of the woman's cave?"_

_"Haha," Natsuye laughed softly, "such curiousity for such a bright-eyed girl. But that will have to wait for another day, Kaoru-chan." Kaoru just nodded as the lady doctor prepared to continue._

_"Now this is very important Kaoru-chan," she said, scooting closer to the girl. "There are several motivations for doing this beside making babies." Natsuye saw that Kaoru was listening attentively. This was a rather touchy subject for her to explain to girl who was clueless on the whole subject. She didn't want to scare the poor girl by telling her that some men lusted over a woman so much that they would force themselves on them, or how some women were forced to live a life of selling their bodies to men, or that a man and a woman just engaged in such an act in order to make a marriage of convenience official. A beautiful girl like Kaoru was more than any of that. She deserved the love and attention of a man who would shower that love on her unconditionally. Like a certain steadfast redhead. They probably didn't know it, but the old woman had aged knowledge in more than just medicine. Natsuye knew that Kaoru was the woman for him, and he the man for her. That was why she had to tell Kaoru that sex was just more than reproduction or for statisfying one's lustful needs._

_"You see, Kaoru-chan, there are more ways for two people to express their feeling for each other than just hugging and kissing." Kaoru's eyes popped to life. _In more ways than usual? _Kaoru thought. Was this the way that she could express her feelings for her beloved?_

_"The eel and the cave can also be the physical manifestation of love. I suppose you younger folks still call it, 'making love'," Natsuye giggled like she was a teenaged girl again. _That _took her back. Meanwhile, the real teenaged girl just sat dumbfounded at those words: making love. _

_"Anyway, the eel and the cave is the closest that two people can ever get physical, but," she halted, making sure Kaoru was paying close attention, "lovemaking can only be shared by two people who are in love with each other. And it creates a bond that no one can ever break..."_

Reminiscing over the memory that had only taken place little more than an hour ago made Kaoru blush deeply, and she was glad Kenshin was walking ahead of her so he couldn't see her face.

_Making love, _Kaoru repeated in her mind, closing her eyes and picturing her and Kenshin together like that: Kenshin's strong arms engulfing her form while she snaked her arms around him so. Kenshin touching her cheek while their lips connected. His hands moving to the front of her sleeping yukata, pulling the tie away in order to reveal herself to his eyes only. Him doing the same afterwards...

The thought of her being that close to Kenshin - in that sort of way - was so overwhelming, it made Kaoru's breath hitch. Actually being able to touch Kenshin, and him touching back...

_Will "making love" express how I feel about Kenshin? _Kaoru thought, bringing her fingers to her flushed lips. Ousugi-san did say that making love was the physical way of expressing love, so maybe that was what she had to do. It was almost too good to be true.

_"...Lovemaking can only be shared by two people who are in love with each other..."_

It hit her then that it **was **too good to be true. Ousugi-san said that a moment like that could only be shared by two people who were in love with each other. Kaoru was sure of her feelings: she loved Kenshin since the first moment she saw him. But Kenshin's feelings were an enigma. She knew he cared about her, but feared that he just cared for her in the protector/ward relation, not the way a man would protect the one he loved the most. Kaoru's expression quickly changed from worried to a conclusive sadness.

_Kenshin doesn't think of me as a lover, let alone a woman, _she told herself inwardly, releasing a heavy sigh that she hoped to go unnoticed by the walking swordsman ahead. But of course, it did not.

"Kaoru-dono?" he asked, turning around seeing her questionably gloomy eyes, "is something the matter?" He immediately thought to her cramps. "Do you need me to carry you the rest of the way?"

Her fingers almost fisted into a ball at her agitated feelings, but instead just loosely squeezed the cloth of her yukata. Kaoru faced up and presented him with a half-hearted smile. "I'm fine, Kenshin. Why wouldn't I be? I'm probably just hungry because we missed breakfast this morning is all..."

At first, Kenshin didn't really believe her. He felt that in her ki, something was bothering her. But since he felt that she was not in anymore pain, there wasn't much he could do. He would not pry into her feelings.

"Very well, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin nodded as he turned on his heel to walk the rest of the way home. Kaoru trudged behind, bearing a stare of discouragement under a veil of raven bangs.

* * *

As the summer season progressed, so did the lives of Kaoru and Kenshin. Kaoru, since finding out about the intimate nature of men and women, was unable to burrow deeper into the mind of Kenshin in order to uproot his feelings for her. The last thing she would do was force him to feel for her. So she busied herself with her chores and her loom, while he herded the cattle during the day. Since the summer season was bustling with the seasons flora - and since they were usually strapped for cash - Kenshin took the time to forage three days a week while herding during the rest. This way he could look after the forest domain during sunlight hours while looking for much needed plants that they could use for food and medicine.

He also found this to be an excellent opportunity to take Kaoru out of the house during the day, aside from trips to the village. She had never been out in the woods since Kenshin found her on that fateful day, and it wasn't as if she was traumatized by the flora filled environment, so it would be a breath of relief for Kaoru to breathe in the scent of the forest. During their trips out in the wilderness, Kenshin made sure to hone all of senses out to sense any danger or obstacles. Luckily, they did not run into much trouble on their outtings. It was all so new to Kaoru. She had never seen a place with so many secrets, but alive as well! Kenshin taught her many things about the forest and the animals that lived in it, but it was so hard to listen to even Kenshin. Everywhere she turned, Kaoru heard a rustle from a rabbit or a deer, the hiss of a cicada, or a beautiful song from a bird in a tree.

The birds.

The birds were what she loved most about the forest. There were so many, and all had a unique song to sing to the world. To Kaoru, it was almost as if they were speaking to her in some way. Only to her.

It also seemed that the birds liked her just as much as she loved them. All she had to do was hold out her hand, and a petite songbird would perch on her slender finger and sing her a tune.

_"...must remember..."_

Her eyes widen and before she knew it, the bird had finished its song and flew away. It was if the birds were trying to communicate with her, in a way that only she could decipher. But what was it? _Why_ was it?

_"Amazing, Kaoru-dono," _Kenshin said, slowly approaching her from behind. _"it took many weeks for the birds in this forest to trust this one's hands." _Finding a nearby rock, Kenshin sat down and patted his hand to the limited space next to him for Kaoru to sit. She followed and sat, but noticed that some of her leg would be lying on Kenshin's. Shifting herself so that she would be comfortable, Kaoru sat, half on the rock and half on Kenshin. She tried to not let the blush show. Kenshin then grabbed her left hand with one hand, and fetched his other hand into his pouch. He filled her hand with a small, grainy substance: seeds. And before she knew it, not one, but five birds settled around her, two perched on her hand, while the other three gather at their feet, picking at the seeds that fell from between her fingers.

_"I heard a tale that birds did not originate from Earth, but from Heaven," _Kenshin said quietly, not wanting to raise his voice in order to not frighten the birds. _"Really?" _Kaoru asked, tilting her head slightly, her eyes still shifting from the feeding birds to Kenshin.

He nodded. _"When the Earth was created all of the ground dwelling beings - human and animal alike - were arguing," _he began. _"Their fighting could be heard all the way in Heaven, where the birds lived. The birds did not like their fighting, so one day a beautiful crane came down from Heaven and danced a beautiful dance. The Earth dwellers were so entranced by the crane's dancing that they forgot what they were fighting about. Soon, the Earth dwellers were at peace, and the crane's followers soon flew to Earth to spread the crane's message of peace." _Kenshin ended his story to leave Kaoru in wonder. It was amazing that it was a bird that first brought the message of peace down to Earth. But, the story wasn't too unfamiliar in her heart, somehow...

When the birds finished their seeds and flew off, Kenshin continued his foraging, with Kaoru following, not before spotting a lone purple flower in a nearby clearing. Seeing that Kaoru was gazing off at a distant river, glistening under the sun, Kenshin made his way to the flower. Before he knelt down to pluck it, he turned his head to see Kaoru still staring toward the distance. In the clearing, the rays of light glittered down on her form, causing her billowing ebony hair - kept in its high ponytail with the indigo ribbon - to shine. In his mind, Kenshin admitted to himself that she was truely beautiful, a sight to behold.

Kaoru felt a tap on her shoulder. _"For you, Kaoru-dono." _Kenshin presented the flower to Kaoru. _"Thank you Kenshin,"_ Kaoru said has she gently took the flower from his hand, grazing his fingers with hers at the same time. She blushed as she brought the flower up to her nose to smell its enticing aroma. _"It's beautiful,"_ she complimented the flower, but her true gesture was toward Kenshin. She looked up to lock her cerulean eyes with his amethyst eyes.

_"That it is, Kaoru-dono."_

* * *

Since her meeting with Ousugi-san, Kaoru began to notice that despite the population of the village residents who were weary of Kenshin's presence, a lot more of them were quite friendly with the goofy swordsman and spoke of him well. The most friendly of the villagers were definately the children. Where at first the children had odd, quizical looks at the once mute girl, they now flocked around her everytime she and Kenshin came to the village. While Kenshin ran his errands, Kaoru stayed in the village clearing with the children, playing and entertaining them.

After a day of browsing and bardering, Kenshin returned to the clearing, to see Kaoru holding the hands of the little ones, who were coaxing her to come this way and that. Kenshin grinned at the scene. It looked like it was not only the birds who were fond of Kaoru.

"Is this one interrupting anything?" Kenshin asked cheerfully as he approached the group. The children immediately ran over to Kenshin, tugging on his hakama and gi and even trying to climb him. Kaoru followed behind the flock of children, giggling at the their antics toward Kenshin.

"Now, now," Kenshin tried to settle the children, but as usual, to no avail. "Did you have fun with Kaoru-dono today?"

The children responded with squeals of delight as they recounted their day spent with Kaoru. Kaoru had quite a day with the children, playing with paper balloons with the boys and allowing the girls to braid her long hair.

"I see that you've had quite a fun-filled day, that you did!" Kenshin said with chipper, the children growing ever closer to the adults who towered over them, but were rather short themselves.

"I love Kaoru-hime! She's so pretty!"

"I wish I can be like Ken-san when I grow up!"

The children's admiration were a little too flattering to Kenshin and Kaoru, since they were sporting light blushes across their cheeks. But not all of the children were encircling the odd-couple with compliments and flatteries. Kaoru turned her head to notice one little girl off to the side, clutching one of her hands tightly into her yukata while the other was tucked behind her. Her eyes were downcasted, refraining eye contact with the rest. A stream of remorse flood Kaoru's eyes: had the other children been picking on this girl and she had not noticed? Momentarily ignoring the children surrounding her, Kaoru approached the little girl and knelt to her level. She noticed that the girl popped when she felt Kaoru near her.

"What is wrong, little one? Have the other children been picking on you?" Kaoru asked soothingly. Though the little girl ducked her head so that she could not see, Kaoru could tell that the girl's rosy cheeks were turning red. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought the girl had succumbed to tears. Instead, the girl shakily brought her hidden hand to her front, revealing a necklace made entirely of flowers.

"For you, Ka-Kaoru-hime," she said in a small, shy voice. Touched by the little girls kindness, Kaoru took the flower necklace from the little girl's hand and gently brought it over her head, displaying it on her neck. She then put her fingers under the girls chin and brought their eyes together. The little girl had a beautiful pair of gray-blue eyes.

"Thank you very much," Kaoru thanked, giving the girl a bow. The little girl quickly developed a bright smile across her face, to which Kaoru smiled back. She could tell that this girl was going to be very beautiful someday.

Kenshin then came up from behind Kaoru, standing over her as she was still kneeling toward the ground.

"And what did this young miss give to you, Kaoru-dono?" he asked.

Instead of answering for the girl, Kaoru gave her a gentle, encouraging look, telling the little girl to "brag" about her gift.

"It's a good luck necklace," the little girl first stated with enthusiasm. "The flowers are suppose to bring good luck to loving couples and wishes of happiness!"

Now it was Kaoru's turn for a blush to creep onto her cheeks again. Her feelings for Kenshin were even known by the children! Who else in the village would find out?...

"You know what _I _wish for?" another little girl from behind brought up. Kaoru and Kenshin turned to see the other little girl, just a little bit higher than the timid girl. They were probably sisters, since they looked remarkably alike, save for the older girl's fuller body mass and the younger girl's eyes.

"What would that be?" Kenshin asked with cheer as usual, but secretly anticipating for something unexpected.

And unexpected it was.

"I wish for... Ken-san and Kaoru-hime to get married!"

The whole world became a hot spiral of color for Kenshin, as his eyes criss-crossed and his whole face became heated, almost as heated as the time he saw Kaoru naked (though that thought really didn't help the moment at hand). Kaoru was no better: she almost became mute all over again from embarrassment, as her face was flushed with the brightest shade of red.

"Oroooooooo!!" Kenshin said aloud, but, the children didn't really seem to pay attention, because they were so busy shout their own expectations of Kenshin and Kaoru.

"Yes! Yes! I want Ken-san to marry Kaoru-hime too!!"

"I hope they get married and have lots of babies so we can play with them!"

"Yeah! Me too!"

"I hope that Ken-san and Kaoru-hime will be happy forever and ever!"

The enthusiastic squeals and murmurs coming from the children surely did not put the blue-eyed beauty and the red-haired swordsman in a good position, but Kaoru took it on herself to quell their chatter. Kenshin, on the other hand, just stood by, a rather sad smile tugging on his lips as he listened to the children's replies to Kaoru's confutions.

"But you love Ken-san, don't you Kaoru-hime?"

"Don't you want to be with him?"

Kenshin saw Kaoru open her mouth several times in an effort to explain things to the children about she and Kenshin's relationship. Explain what, exactly, was what went through Kaoru's mind as she continue to display nearly every shade of pink and red known to nature. What could she say to these children? It was true with what they said: she did love Kenshin, and wanted to be with him forever. And, from spending time with such darling little wonders, she would like to have a child with Kenshin, somehow.

But what was she thinking? That was just a fantasy. A silly, wishful, fantasy.

When she glanced to Kenshin's spot in the corner of her eye, she noticed that he wasn't there.

"Kenshin?"

She turned around to see Kenshin quietly making his exit toward the path to their cabin. His cover was clearly blown, so he turned around to face Kaoru, only his eyes were hidden under his thick bangs.

"Don't worry Kaoru-dono. I'm just going to the cabin to prepare your bath is all. I'll be waiting for you when you're done here, that I will." Kenshin raised his head to show Kaoru a hearty smile, and continued on his way to the cabin. Kaoru gave her own smile back to him, but knew that in her heart, something was bothering her love.

Once he was gone from sight up the path, she returned her attention to the children. One little boy tugged at Kaoru's yukata hem, wanting her attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you Ken-san going to give each other a bath?"

Kaoru felt two stone-sized knots form inside her throat.

* * *

Kenshin brought the axe over his head, dropping it on the vertical log, splitting it into two equal pieces. He placed another log on the stump, and repeated the process. The setting sun beamed on his red locks, almost making them appear golden. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck and collected on his bare, prespired chest. Wiping the prespiration from his brow, Kenshin looked at his work to see if it was sufficient enough. Actually, he didn't really need to chop anymore wood. He did the task to take his mind off of certain things.

Cetain things like a certain blue-eyed girl.

Or should he say "woman"?

Kenshin had no idea that the banter of mere children would rile his emotions up so much. He had to get away and think things out... Think things out about Kaoru.

He'd be a liar if he said that he didn't care about her. Hell, Kenshin cared about her enough to have asked her to stay with him under his protection, and though he didn't show it, his heart lept when Kaoru said yes. Yes, he did care for her. How exactly, he wasn't so sure of himself.

He just pictured Kaoru in his mind. She was sweet, kind, extremely innocent in a cute kind of way, and beyond attractive: she was beautiful. He admitted it: Kaoru was the most beautiful woman that he has ever crossed paths with, and how fortunate was he to have actually crossed paths with her would remain a mystery. But it was fortunate to both of them that he came to Kaoru's aide when he did. She gained a protector and a home, and, he gained a companion.

But Kaoru could never be anymore than a companion, a friend.

How could Kenshin marry Kaoru? She was still so new to this new world, and he did not want to take advantage of her ignorance on the subject. Furthermore, did she really love him? Did _he_ love _her_?

He cared for, that much Kenshin was sure of. But did he - could he - care for her that deeply?

Kenshin swung the axe deep into the stump and released a low growl as he looked up to the sky. This was so frustrating! This was why he didn't want Kaoru to get attached to him, nor he to her. He didn't want her to be traumatized in the situaiton where her true family came to claim her as their daughter or wife. It wasn't fair to Kaoru, who had amnesia.

_But that didn't stop you from keeping Kaoru to yourself. _Kenshin's conscience told him in the back of his thoughts. Did his conscience have to put it so _posessively_? He didn't want Kaoru "for himself". He just wanted her out of harm's way. It seemed that women like Kaoru were a magnet for trouble, like a bee to a flower. But then again, the thought of any other person - any other _man_ to be more specific - near Kaoru made his blood boil. Call it bad experience, but after all that had happened to Kaoru due to men, Kenshin was convinced that no man - no matter how good his intentions - was worthy of touching Kaoru. Maybe his conscience was right. If someday Kaoru wanted to be happy with a man, and Kenshin was the only one...

Him and Kaoru...

Just the two of them...

Together.

_A life with Kaoru, would be lovely, _Kenshin thought, innocently blushing. Of all things, Kenshin never expected to think such thoughts about Kaoru, and thought it almost a little wicked. But after living so long without a companion - a human companion...

Bitterly, Kenshin slung his head, laughing softly at himself. _Unfortunately, dreams like that are better left to be dreams. Especially for one with a past like this one's..._

"Kenshin?"

A voice interrupted Kenshin's thoughts, and Kaoru came up the path, flower chain necklace still laced around her clavical. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw the sight of Kenshin sweat-drenched chest after chopping firewood. A new shade of red stained Kaoru's pale skin at the new sight of Kenshin's half naked body. Ever since her lecture with Ousugi-san, Kaoru was utterly aware of the deeper meaning of the fact that Kenshin was a man. And she, a woman.

"Uhhh," Kenshin said, scratching his head and blushing, clearly embarrassed at showing Kaoru so much skin. "The bath is almost ready for you, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said hesistantly, kneeling down to gather the newly chopped logs. "I'll just stoke the fire and it will be ready, that it will." Clumsily gathering the logs, Kenshin trotted over to the bath house to feed the fire, leaving Kaoru in the vacinity of the chopping area.

_Back to -dono again..._

* * *

Kaoru sunk into the deliciously warm bath water in the furo. Even in the summer heat, the temperature was just perfect for melting away the sweat and anguish of the day.

And for keeping certain memories and dreams warm in the mind.

Unfastening the bun that kept her hair above water, Kaoru allowed her thick falls of blue black hair cascade down on the surface of the water. She then dipped her head entirely under the water, bringing her head back up, thoroughly wetting her hair, which clung to her equally wet forehead, neck, and shoulders. Settling her head back, Kaoru softly hummed to herself and eventually sighed a dreamy sigh.

"I wonder what it would be like, to be Kenshin's wife?"

There was no heartache or embarrassment in the lost nymph princess's voice as she spoke. Just pure wonder.

* * *

A/n:

Ousugi Natsuye is an OC, though I borrowed her surname from "Fushigi Yuugi" character Ōsugi Suzano, the Priestess of Byakko. Yep, that's right: No Megumi!! Not saying that I supported that _certain _OVA, but when I first thought of Natsuye, I thought of the old midwife who was pictured in the "happiness montage" in the director's cut of Seisouhen.

Some more on history and stuff, and let me just begin by saying how lucky I am to have been born in the age of far more advanced medicine.

So in this chapter, Kaoru get's her first cycle with Kenshin, and it's quite a confusing and embarrassing ordeal for them both, for Kaoru because she is totally naiive on the subject due to her amnesia, and for Kenshin because, well, he's a guy. Now, since they are in the age where convenient, disposable feminine hygeine products were yet to be invented, women all over the world had to deal with stuff a lot differently. In Japan, for instance, girls had to make their own pads by folding some paper in special way to soak up the fluid. It was called, the "horse's saddle", because it looked like a saddle for a horse when it was done (when a girl got her period, they would call it "the horse" because of that). Even with this, you would have to change it ever so often because it wouldn't stay secure for very long in your yumoji (a woman's waistcloth)... That was why women wore dark clothing during their cycle and usually stayed indoors until it ended. (Thanks to "Kaze Hikaru Vol. 3" for the information.) And just to clarify on the duration of the time Kaoru has spent with Kenshin...

She's been with him for about two and a half months, so Kaoru must have had her previous cycle just before she ran away from Heaven. And just to remind you all, we females (even though most of my readers are probably girls) are a spontaneous bunch. The cycle works in many odd ways. Some of us are on time, some have it four months apart. Guess Kaoru just wasn't on time. Oo

The little girl and her sister were inspired by "Memoirs of a Geisha's" Chiyo and Satsu.

More culture references! This time with nature. :)

In the West, we are use to seeing the white dove as a symbol of peace (to a lesser extent, the bald eagle as the seal of the United States). But in the East, they are more accustomed to the red crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane (perfect for this story). The red crowned crane is also a symbol of luck, marital bliss, and happiness. The crane gained international recognition as a peace symbol by WWII victim Sadako Sasaki, who died of luekemia due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was a legend that if someone folded a thousand paper cranes, their wish would be granted. She wanted to get well again, so that she could run and play again. Sadly, Sadako died before she could complete her goal. After her death, children everywhere started folding cranes, and a peace park was eventually built in Hiroshima in her honor (there is also one located in Seattle, Washington). Unfortunately, the red crowned crane's numbers are declining in Japan, so join the conservation effort to save this symbol of peace!

And sorry if I seem to be overexpending the word "yukata" in the story so far... But you know, it IS summer (hot, hot, HOT). Just to refresh, a yukata is a casual kimono that is usually made of cotton and is unlined, making it a cool and refreshing garment, perfect for summer festivities or coming right out of the bath.

Dunno when I'm gonna update next. It might be some time. But, I'd like to tell you why I've been able to update this story so quickly and it's taking me so much time to update my other two stories. Well, to tell you the truth, this story is the only one were a made such a complete outline; in fact, it's nearly complete. That and this story is fresh in my head and I'm more enthusiastic. All I have to do is add the figurative details and then badda-bing badda-boom! I'm done! The others, not so much. The problem with "Beauty and Battousai" right now is that it's such a totally shift of moods, and as I look at the loose outline for that story, it shares an almost uncanny similarity with "River of Stars" (though not entirely the same situations) near the finale. So I'm trying to deal with the question of changing the whole plot of "Beauty and Battousai" or just going along with it and finishing it. Who knows, I might totally revamp it.

With "An Unkept Memory", it's not so bad. I've already written the epilogue to the story so that's pretty much settled. That, and that story was never intended to be very long. I say that excluding the epilogue, there will be two more chapters and then it's settled. FYI, I have already started the next chapter for that too, but the difficulty with this story is that "An Unkept Memory" deals with a lot more historical accuracy, since it does take place in the canon universe, right after the Bakumatsu, so I'm trying to write the climax and the conflict of the story so that it will revolve around an event that would have more than likely have taken place during that time.

And that's the truth folks. Hope you all aren't too mad at that revealed truth.

Anyway, here's a question for ya: what's something about Kenshin that I have failed to mention in this story? I gave you a hint somewhere in this chapter. Tell me in your review. First one to say it will get a...hug! :3

Cya!


	9. Secrets Untold

**Chapter 8: Secrets Untold**

Kaoru put down the spindle as she rubbed her arms, up and down, shivering a little here and there. The seasons were shifting so quickly; soon, summer would draw to a close and fall would bring its harbingers of a cold winter that lay ahead. Though the sun still seemed so high and warm, the fluctuations in temperature was surely there, with some days being a gentle sunny day with warm air, while other other dropped with near bone-chilling winds, and equally chilly nights. Today happened to be one of those days, so Kaoru brought her loom indoors. Instead of a light summer yukata, Kaoru sported a kimono that Kenshin bought for her recently, patterned with autumn colors.

It came to Kaoru that she had, so far, spent an entire season with Kenshin, and soon, if no one and nothing interfered, she would be spending another with him. It seemed just like yesterday that the lost nymph princess woke up in Kenshin's home, living with him as his protectee with no memory past the moment she awoke. And she hoped to kami that nothing would change that.

Once she finished circulating enough warmth last for a few minutes, Kaoru continued her weaving. She decided to make a shawl for the coming fall. Perhaps she could make a scarf for Kenshin as well.

Just then, Kaoru heard a most definate knock on the door, a knock that repeated twice more. Kaoru immediately stopped her loom work, shaken by the sudden noise. No one has ever approached the cabin before, and since Kenshin was not home, Kaoru was suspicious of the knocking, but was nonetheless scared. She didn't know when Kenshin would be back from the village, and whether the knocker would remain on the other side for how long. Gulping, Kaoru decided to approach the door, but that was all. She didn't dare open it to see who was on the other side.

Standing up, as gracefully and silently as she could, Kaoru walked to the door, step by step. She varied the pressure on her feet to reduce any creaking against the floor. Once she had reached the door, Kaoru carefully laid a palm on the door, then the other. She put her ear to the door, listening for the breathing of the person on the other side.

She didn't hear a thing.

_What? _Kaoru thought quizically. Yes, there was a barrier between the two bodies, but surely she would have been able to hear the breathing of the knocker. Kaoru just waited by the door, when a voice that scared Kaoru half to death spoke.

"I know you are in there."

Kaoru's throat tightened at the visitor's - who was clearly a man - accurate assumption. Her heart pounded at the tone of his cruel voice. Somebody knew she was here. Was it family member who had finally traced her? If so, why would they come for her like this? Kaoru shook her head, concealing any noise that threatened to escape her lips. Careful not to stumble and fall on her own feet out of fright, Kaoru backed away from the door as quietly as she could once again, but to her frightful surprise, the door blasted open, sending Kaoru to the ground.

The force from the blast sent a harsh breeze into the cabin, stirring up dust and debris. Kaoru, bringing her kimono sleeve to her face to shield it from the oncome of dust particles, squinted her eyes in order to see the visitor. With the dirt and dust in the air, a cloud formed in front of the doorway, and all she could see was a towering sillohuete of the man. Kaoru backed away, trying to stand up, as the figure began to emerge from the dust cloud. What emerged was a tall man as suspected, a black and blue hakama and gi dressing his body, his hair kept in a high ponytail. Kaoru paid no attention to this detail though; what caught her attention were his wolf-like eyes, threatening to devour her with their death gaze, and moreso, the sword at his hilt. He towered over her smaller form so easily, and his intent that was sent off with his ki was not kind. He came here to do something, either to her or to Kenshin, or both.

"Battousai," were his first face-to-face words to her. They're were frightening, but also confusing. "_Battousai?"_ she thought.

Not even aware that who the fierce vistor spoke of was her Kenshin, Kaoru kept silent in her ignorance.

"I know that you know him," he said, gradually closing the distance between the two of them. He closed in on her face, staring at her hard. "I've been watching you."

Kaoru felt her heart and lungs constrict, fearing that she would stop breathing. Her eyes widened at his words as he straightened his form, watching her tremble from his words.

"I-I don't know whom you speak," Kaoru barely managed to say, tremors in her voice. It was the truth, for she had no idea who this "Battousai" was. But in the back of her head, she knew that the title was somehow related to Kenshin.

"Quit your lying, girl," he said, acid seeping from his voice. "Or you will regret it." At that, the man laid a hand on the hilt of his sword, reminding Kaoru of the severity - and terror - of her situation. Her breath hitched as she tried to inch away from him, but eventually met the wall. He took a step toward her, and Kaoru clenched her eyes shut, trying to conceal her already known fear and anticipation from the intruder.

_Kenshin! _she yelled in her mind, hoping that he would somehow hear her. But realizing that there was no way of communicating wtih Kenshin, Kaoru had no choice but to gather her courage, and look the man in the eye, once again telling the man what she knew.

"I don't know who 'Battousai' is," Kaoru said with more confidence, sending a somewhat fierce, but so much more unsure, glance at him. All the man did was smirk at her facade, clenching the hilt of his sword while watching the look wipe clean off of her face.

"Wrong words, little girl," the man said, taking another step forward...

...but then stopped when he felt a sharp poke in his spine.

The wolf-eyed man's eyes falter with ferocity for a moment, but then a wide, malevolent grin found its way to his lips.

"So we meet again at last, _Battousai_," the man greeted, releasing his grasp on his sword. Kaoru blinked at the mention of the one named "Battousai's" entrance. She shifted just a little to see who this Battousai was. To her relief, surprise, and shock, the one who stood behind the wolf-eyed man was Kenshin.

"Kenshi-!" Kaoru began, but stopped when she saw his eyes, so fierce and serious. His eyes were their violet hue, but were as if ice glazed over them, making them dead cold. His sakabatou was pointed at the man's spine.

"If you take one more step toward Kaoru-dono, you will direly regret it," Kenshin warned, flames in his voice as fiery as his hair. Kenshin could not see, but Kaoru saw the man's face twist into a smug smile. Both of them heard the laugh that followed.

"I never expected you to be the type to keep a woman locked up in your home, Battousai. It surprised me that you would be keeping a pleasure slave for yourself."

Kenshin pressed the tip of the blade into the man's back at his assumption toward Kaoru, who stared at the interaction between the two men. She looked so lost and frightened.

"Why are you here, Saito?" Kenshin asked, straight to the point. The man - Saito - just changed his posture in a more leisurely manner.

"Why the rush, Battousai?" he began to ask, never glimpsing at Kenshin once, "after these long years, we have so much to catch up on." He finally turned his head, his wolf-eyes gazing on the short swordsman for the first time in many years with a smirk. "Like how you occupy your time now that you aren't a hitokiri for the rebels anymore."

Kenshin's eyes sharpened, but Kaoru's eyes widened, then squinted when she began to scrutinize the word. _"Hito-kiri?" _Kaoru thought, dividing each syllable up to match the kanji she had learned. All she could come up with was:

"Manslayer."

She wasn't sure if he had heard her, but Kaoru gasped in disbelief. _No, _she thought. _This man is lying. He has to be._

At that moment, Kenshin spoke again. "My life now has nothing more to do with you, Saito."

"Oh, but it does," Saito cameback with. "You cannot forget such a past as a partner of 'Divine Death'."

All of what Kaoru knew about Kenshin began to split at Saito's words. And she knew it would only become worse.

"'Divine Death'..." Kaoru whispered under her breath. Both men noticed this; Kenshin clearly did not want Kaoru to know anything about it, but Saito was rather amused by all of this. So he decided to instigate the situation.

"That's right: we were the 'Divine Death': rebel deities and entities who fought against the humans who threatened our retinues, our livlihoods, and our holy creations."

Divine Death? Rebels? Deities and entities? Humans? What did all of this mean and how did it tie into Kenshin? Kenshin was human, just like her. Wasn't he? Kaoru was speechless, and remained utterly speechless at Saito's next words.

"Haven't you told her about your 'past career' yet, Battousai?"

"Shut up, Saito," Kenshin warned Saito savagely. He glanced back at Kenshin, but was bemused when he saw that his eyes were the hue that he was use to seeing them in: amber. Fierce, vibrating amber. Kaoru was anything but. No. That wasn't Kenshin. Her Kenshin never raised his voice, never used that language. His voice was kind and gentle. He would always try to remain calm in every situation. But no. This wasn't Kenshin. This was _that_ man - the man in the alley who fought those thugs half to death for her sake. He was the "Battousai" that Saito spoke of, the alleged hitokiri, who did kami-knew-what in the past. His eyes - oh kami; his eyes that reflected hell itself - told all. Kaoru felt weak in her legs. She ended up using the wall as her support.

Observing both of their reactions, Saito came to his conclusion.

"I'm assuming you haven't, Battousai."

Kenshin glared lethal, blood dripping, swords at Saito, who continued to smile. "I found Kaoru, helpless and frightened. It wasn't important that she knew anything about my past, so long as she was safe."

A part of Kaoru's heart warmed at hearing Battousai's somewhat gentler side, reminding her that he still remembered. But still, he had been keeping so much from her. What else was there?

Saito ended up shrugging, smug smile on his face. "If you choose to keep something of such magnitude from a woman who is your lover, then it's your choice, I suppose."

For the first time, Kenshin's heart hitched slightly at Saito's words. Still obtaining a dark, direct, stamina, Kenshin chose to correct him. "Kaoru and I are not like that... She understands this."

Yes. Unfortunately, Kaoru understood it. Every last detail of his sentence.

_"Kaoru and I aren't like that."_

From that point, Kaoru's heart officially shattered. Kenshin had confirmed it: he thought nothing of her more than a protectee, and if more, a friend. Never a lover. Kaoru felt warm tears wanting to break from their prison, but Kaoru wouldn't break - she wouldn't break in front of him. She would be strong - for her sake.

With Kenshin, he himself could not believed he had actually said that.

_I beg to differ_, His conscience said once before disappearing from his mind.

Saito first stared back at Kenshin, then toward Kaoru again. The girl obviously thought otherwise, since he could see her heart clearly breaking right before their eyes. He wondered if Battousai had the heart to even notice. Oh well. It wasn't his problem. He just wanted to make the scenario more interesting, for him anyway.

"Very well," was all he had left to say with that deal.

"Tell me why you are here, Saito," Kenshin darted back, getting back to the point.

Viciously smiling at the redhead, Saito grabbed the hilt of his sword again, turning on his heel to face Kenshin.

"I would _love_ to settle the score over our rivalry, Battousai," he began to insinuate. At that, Kenshin instead replaced his sword back in its sheath. "I will not fight you, Saito. Not now, anyway." Kenshin glanced over at Kaoru, who had wide eyes. Her form flinched when she heard Kenshin say this. Would he really just up and leave her, just to fight this man? She noticed that even though he said that he would not fight him, his fingers were unconciously twitching toward his sword's hilt, but he fisted his hand to stop them.

"You didn't let me finish, fool," Saito interrupted, with a vexed tone in his voice. Kenshin glared in his direction, but allowed him to continue.

"Like I was saying," Saito began, "I _would _love to settle our sixty year score, I am not here to do that." _Sixty years?.. _Kaoru thought in disbelief.

"Then answer the question: why are you here?" Kenshin reiterated aggressively.

"I have come as a messenger," Saito finally answered, "you're skills with the blade are needed again."

Kenshin scrutinized him again. "Do you mean to say?..."

"Katsura-sama needs the Battousai's blade once more," Saito finished for him. For once, Kenshin's eyes widened at the mention of the man Katsura. He never thought he'd hear that name again. He didn't want to, in fact.

"What does _he_ want?" Kenshin questioned with onset. For the first time since Kenshin's arrival to his unexpected visit, Saito's face turned serious as he began to speak.

"It's Shishio," Saito began to inform. "His army is growing in the Underworld. Katsura fears that Shishio will try to unleash his army onto the surface world."

There was an anger on Kenshin's face, an almost hidden anger that was beginning to emerge from beneath his skin at the mention of the King of the Underworld. Kenshin clenched his fists, threatening to draw blood, but didn't.

"And what does Katsura-sama plan on doing, besides using me as an instrument to bring him victory?"

Saito couldn't help but give a little grin at Kenshin's obvious bitterness toward Katsura-sama, Lord of Strategy and Logic. He continued.

"With Katsura-sama's new rank in the pantheon, he plans on joining forces with the Terrestrial God of Battle, in order to put an end to this hundred year war."

"_Enough_," Kenshin bit with acid in his voice, teeth clenched and fists balled, drips of blood dropping to the floor at the mention of the God of Battle. Seeing him wounded, Kaoru wanted to clutch his hands and tend them. But after seeing that it was self-inflicted, from his clear and evident anger...

"Though I believe that Shishio must be stopped before he escalates his plans further," Kenshin started with his voice rising, becoming more rigid, "I will not be involved in anymore bloodshed." It almost seemed as if he was about to unveil his next words in the form of a growl, but they still came out harsh and deadly. "And I will _never _work under that cad of a war god, under any circumstance."

For a moment, Saito looked surprised at the redhead's words, but let the humor of the situation get to him, and slowly, a feigned expression of hurt glided his features. "My, my, Battousai - your swimming in hot water for insulting a higher deity like that. You better hope that he's not omni-present."

"I don't care," Kenshin spat out, true to his words. "Besides, I know well enough that he is not omni-present..." He spoke the last words under his breath, not wanting to gain the speculation of the wolf-eyed man in front of him. Kenshin tried to cool his temper, and spoke out his next words cooly.

"I will only use my sword to protect, not to kill, from now on. If Katsura is as clever as he was all of those years ago - and if he is teaming with one of the most powerful gods on the terrestrial plane-" Kenshin said that with mockery in his voice, "then he will have no problem in defeating Shishio's army: And I will not be of use to them."

From the stern expression on Kenshin's face, both Saito and Kaoru could tell that his word were final, and nothing would change his mind. But in his mind, Saito believed that it was only temporary, and that something would come up to bring the Battousai over once again. So Saito just shrugged in reply, and began to walk toward the door, not allowing his rival of sixty years to kick him out. Giving a wave with his hand, a heavy fog formed in front of the doorway, barricading any light or form that could come through the other side. It mystified Kaoru, but Kenshin seemed unfazed at the display. Before entering the fog, Saito stopped, giving one more glance at the residents inside.

"If not for Katsura-sama, will you be prepared to pick up your blade to protect those near you, if he is to fail?"

Kaoru felt that his attention was on her when he said this, and Kenshin realized it. Saito didn't wait for an answer, however, as he continued into the fog, and disappeared. As soon as his figure ceased to be visible, the fog instantly vanished, revealing the yard and nearby forest again.

For minutes on end, Kenshin just stared out of the doorway, looking at something that clearly wasn't there. Forgetting everything that surrounded him, Kenshin closed his eyes and sighed.

_The feared wolf has returned, _he thought. _This only means that more turmoil will errupt, if not now, soon. This one only hopes that we can have a few more years of solemn peace..._

Kenshin shook his head, as if he was trying to forget, but knew that he couldn't. _All of this came back to confront this one so suddenly, right in front of..._

His eyes opened at his thought. _Kaoru!_

He spun around and darted his eyes to the figure standing behind him, alone, stiff, eyes not seeing but knowing. They were hiddened behind her thick bangs, avoiding the sight of him.

Had all that had just transpired really just happen in front of this innocence? Secrets and details that were never meant for her ears and eyes, that have already seen and heard so much in the time that had transpired between them both? Kenshin's gut turned at the atmosphere that was settling in the cabin: not the dangerous, threatening mood that was there when Saito was present. This one told disgust, distrust, sadness...

He knew it would have done no good. And yet, Kenshin reached out to touch Kaoru to soothe her.

Only to have her flinch away from his touch. Harshly.

For the first time, Kaoru had lashed out in him, not violently, but it happened nonetheless. Not out of fear, but out of anger. And it hurt Kenshin. So shocked, Kenshin was, that he didn't believe it. In a state of denial, he attempted to step closer to Kaoru, but she still refrained, merely taking a step back.

This was not only a shock, but a disturbance to Kenshin, to see Kaoru in such a state. She looked small, lonely, fragile, like an injured animal croaching away from harm's way, ready to fight or fly. It reminded him so much like that time, at the summer festival... This was not like Kaoru at all, to be so cold. He didn't know what to do.

But then, Kaoru spoke, still avoiding eye contact. So quietly she spoke, that Kenshin had to strain to hear her heartbreaking words.

"Since.. I will never be thought of as anymore than a protectee," she began, "will you ever reveal yourself to me? Your past as a, _hitokiri_?"

He could tell from her voice that she was on the verge of tears, yet no drops fell from beneath her bangs. Her last word, "hitokiri", was barely audible. Kaoru only stood in her position, clenching her fists to her kimono, open and close, until he gave her his answer. Kenshin did not want to do it, wish that he had not, but he felt it neccessary, for both of their sakes.

"I am sorry, Kaoru-dono," he revealed to her, almost equally as cold. "But I cannot."

Kaoru's hands unclenched from the fabric and fell to either side of her at his answer. Still, her head did not raise to face his uncertain but blank, violet eyes, so she instead began to make her way toward the door, walking right past his still figure.

"I understand," was all she said before exiting the cabin, but not before revealing the trail of glistening droplets behind her. Kenshin did not know where she was going, neither did Kaoru, but he let her go without hesitation.

All Kenshin did was furrow his brow in pain.

* * *

Kaoru laid on the futon, still fully clothed. A pillow was not under her head, but was hugged to her body in lieu. Half of it was damp, never having the chance to dry completely from having to absorb the tears for two weeks. She hadn't stopped crying since then, and she sometimes became dizzy from her sobs and her stomach ached. But only one ailment rode on her mind.

Her heart was broken.

A fresh wave of tears strangled through her body as the events that happened two weeks prior played back in her head. Her conscience told her to stop reminiscing, for the sake of the remnants of her heart, but she couldn't help but remember the revelations made.

Her Kenshin...

A killer.

A stream of tears slid down her cheek, only to be absorbed by the pillow. She didn't bother hiding her cries like she did in Kenshin's presence. When Kenshin went out for the day, she would do this: spend the day in on the futon, pondering and crying. There were no chores that needed to be done; neither of them have done much to dirty the cabin in the last two weeks.

Kaoru attempted to wipe the tearflow away, but she couldn't stop it. Thought after thought rounded back to the conversation with Kenshin and the man with the wolf-like eyes, Saito. Kenshin's enigmous past partially unveiled, and all by the stranger, right in front of her.

_How could you, Kenshin? _Kaoru thought as she clenched the pillow to face. Ironically, it was not solely the news of learning that Kenshin had once killed in the past, nor was it his behavior, which she admitted to have frightened her. Rather, it was the way this startling information was presented to her: Kaoru had always wanted such secrets to be revealed to her personally, not by a madman who broke and entered, threatening information from her that she did not have, threatening and egging Kenshin the way he did... If only he had not come...

But if the wolf-eyed man had not come, she would not have found out about Kenshin's true feelings about her... Which she herself debated whether it was for the best, or should have been left to oblivion.

_"Kaoru and I are not like that... She understands this."_

That was what truely hurt her. Knowing that Kenshin himself admitted to an audience of three that he never thought of her more than friend - perhaps not even that highly. Only as one who needed to be protected.

A charge. A ward. A job.

_I've lost his heart forever, _Kaoru told herself, tears now pouring profusely at that single revelation. A stray thought hit her, and she wiped away her tears, almost to the point of dryness, but snuffles still prevelant.

_Perhaps... I would be better off with my true family, rather than being here..._

As if in direct response, her heart and stomach both wretch in outcry, refusing to allow her to think that way. Her heart and conscience both knew that she would never leave Kenshin, for even though he held secrets that he wished not to be revealed, and though he said that they could not be together, Kaoru would not leave such a lonely, gentle soul behind to wallow in the miseries of his mysterious past and doomed future, even if he could not become a part of him in that future. In defeat, Kaoru succumbed to tears once again.

_No... I can never leave him... I'll die without him._

Her mind harrowed at the thought of her lost hopes and dreams for a life of love with Kenshin, Kaoru cried until she couldn't any longer, and drifted off to a teary-eyed sleep.

* * *

Filling the pail with ice cold water, Kenshin lifted it, pouring the frigid liquid over his naked body. He was unaffected by the temperature, however. This routine was what he called a bath. He never gave himself the luxary of sinking into the furo for a half an hour or so. The bathhouse was largely unused until Kaoru came into his life.

Only this time, instead of pouring scalding, hot water over his body in order to cleanse himself, Kenshin didn't bother heating the water. He merely filled the pail with the water he gathered from the well and poured it over him without a second thought.

He had come home nearly two hours ago. He didn't go inside of the cabin, knowing Kaoru would be there. Kenshin knew what her reaction would be: almost none to begin with. All Kaoru did was turn her back on him, sending her sad gaze downward. He couldn't face her, even though she did not either. So he got a bucket of water, went directly to the bathhouse, stripped, and did this, his thoughts thrifting through events from two weeks to decades passed.

A "cowarding mistake" was what he thought of himself when he put everything from the past and present together. His actions in the past, when he was that dreaded hitokiri figure, his behavior in the present, with Kaoru...

Raising a hand, Kenshin saw the blotched traces of blood on his palm, staining his skin down to his own blood, mingling the souls of those he had slain into his lifestream forever. Immediately blinking, the illusion dismissed itself, and Kenshin shook his head gently.

_That hasn't happened for awhile, _he thought to himself, almost chuckling with despair. With that in mind, a lot hasn't happened in awhile. Trigging that lot, and number one on the list, was that visit from Saito.

_Saito, _Kenshin repeated to himself, purposely allowing the name to seer a hole into his heart at the meer reminder of the rivalry they shared. How could he have forgotten it? Saito? Not that Kenshin ever truely forgot. Those memories would be seered into his memory forever. The memories of Saito, part of an elite group of elemental deities, and how even though they had a rivalry, they fought side by side, almost, but for the same goal.

To safegaurd the wilderness that man threatened.

As usual, the memories of the past turned into such a sour flavor that Kenshin growled at himself. Kenshin leaned down and splashed some cold water into his face, letting the crystal, ice cold droplets to slide down his skin, neutralizing the sourness away for the time being. But still, he thought: how could he have been so rash, thinking it was so rightous to condemn so many to their deaths with his sword back in those days?

"Mother," was the only word that came from Kenshin's lips at the now bittersweet memories from his past. The memories that only consisted of him and his mother. His beautiful, unearthly mother. The only other being who had hair as bright - even brighter - as his, with the soft, warm, pale skin that he remembered cuddling into for warmth as a child to match. Her soft, gray eyes, along with her soft voice, would lull him to sleep so easily, and her words of maternal love that she granted him each and everyday made Kenshin wish that nothing would ever come between him and his mother ever. And he would do anything for her sake.

Even if that meant killing in the memory of her and her lesson to him: to protect the wilderness.

But even if it were for her, how he regretted his actions.

"I'm sorry...So sorry, mother," Kenshin apologized aloud, hoping that his mother's soul was able to hear him. Perfectly camoflaged among the other water droplets, a stray tear slipped from Kenshin's lid, the salty wetness mingling in with the virgin water as it trailed down his cheek.

"I am a failure to you, mother. I do not know how I can redeem you, let alone myself," he confessed to himself and the spirits. At that moment, Kenshin's mind swiftly went to the image of Kaoru, her long, blue-black hair billowing in the waves of air much like how he remembered his mother's hair doing on a gusty day. The blue-black tresses then settled down her back, reaching farther down than usual because her hair ribbon was absent. She turned around, revealing, her cerulean pools for eyes, that were calm like the evening lake. Between her pink lips escaped his name, from her voice so sweet and gentle like his mother's. And her bare, snow-like skin, which was so soft -

Before he even registered it, Kenshin and dumped another pail of cold water over him, this time registering the chill that it sent through his nerves as punishment for fantasizing about Kaoru so provocatively.

"How could I think about Ka- Kaoru-_dono_ like that?" he scolded himself as he clenched his teeth. Anger and embarrassment filled him when he felt himself grow, _excited _for thinking about Kaoru like that. But there was also a need. He needed to touched her, see her again. But he knew it wouldn't be so simple, especially after...

_"I'm sorry Kaoru-dono, but I cannot."_

_"...I understand."_

Kenshin brushed the wet bangs from his eyes as he remembered those spoken words. It was the right thing to say, to do, especially after the conversation with Saito. He couldn't allow Kaoru to get to attached to him, having an idea about how he was in the past. And she especially couldn't come near him now, after what he had just thought about her. It was his job to protect her - even if from himself. But he was so unsure of himself now. He was confident in his decision, but, why was his heart eating at him whenever he remembered her dead voice telling him a lie as tears followed behind her? Why did his heart not agree with his mind?

_"_The more you continue to lie to yourself, the more pain you'll bring on both of your souls_." _

The voice, which matched his own, appeared from nowhere, with no apparition to hold claim to it. Kenshin closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the surroundings of the bathhouse were not there, instead a void of blackness, and his identical figure, standing in front of him, clothed in only his skin, as was he. His conscience.

Kenshin slowly stood up to match his conscience's height. While Kenshin's stance was lax and uncertain, his counterpart's was strong and confident, manliness radiating off of every muscle. He knew exactly why he was there, unlike his persona.

"This one has nothing to lie about," Kenshin said, telling truth, but untruth at the same time. While is head was telling him that his words were on the right track, his heart was yelling, "liar! Liar!"

"Haha!" his conscience laughed, "do not try to play fool with me. I know everything that you know, and much more. I know the way you look at Kaoru. You don't look at her like as a friend: you look at her like as a woman. And your little fantasy just now proves my point."

Kenshin swallowed and glared, half in embarrassment, but his conscience meerly smirked in confirmation.

"Admit it: your heart beats rapidly whenever the two of you touch, and it stops whenever she says your name," said his conscience knowingly.

Annoyance grew within Kenshin's belly at his conscience's arrogance in his knowledge. He fisted his hand, but then relaxed it, trying to control the situation. "That doesn't mean anything," Kenshin said, his face now cold instead of uncertain. "I could simply be lusting after her. It's probable for a man such as me to think that way, is it not?"

He had hoped to put his conscience of by a comment that he himself thought was disgusting and deceitful, but on the contrary: his conscience gave him a lopsidded smile, seeing right through his persona's little charade. "Lust, eh?" he asked out of redundance. "That's a little bit deceptive, don't you think? You thinking those thoughts, while looking after a young girl who has amnesia?" Kenshin just stood, cold gaze still set on the smirking face parallel to his. His conscience continued. "Well, I guess I couldn't expect much from you, being your old man's son and all-"

"**Don't**," a dangerous and husky voice came out, "_ever _compare me to that cad." Kenshin looked up at his conscience, revealing to him the essence of his anima with his radiant amber eyes, fierce and calculating, no mercy for those who crossed the line within them. Right back at him, Kenshin's conscience also glared daggers, thought not as lethal. After moment, the gaze directed from conscience to persona lifted, and he smirked once again.

"Very well," he almost forfeited, until he said, "I'll agree that you are nothing like your sire: if you admit to loving Kaoru."

The ferocious shade of amber of his anima's eyes immediately dissolved in the shock of the statement made by his conscience. All words escaped his mouth, not knowing what to say to such a thing that he was unsure of himself. Finally, he said, "that is not possible, for neither I nor Kaoru feel anything for each other." Another surprise came from his conscience, this time an unamused countenance, almost totally bored from his persona's chosen obliviousness.

"I know that you are not that dense to not realize the girl's feelings," he said. He almost looked as if he were going to scratch his head in frustration for having to put up with his persona's foolishness for any longer. "Admit to that, at the least."

"No!" Kenshin said sternly. "Kaoru-dono doesn't know any better. She has suffered so much since I had found her with nothing, and who knows how much she suffered before she lost her memory. She's confused... and she doesn't need to be manipulated to believe something that she doesn't even know anything about, especially by me."

A twinge of sincerity crossed Kenshin's conscience's expression, feeling his persona's turmoil. He hoped that he wouldn't have to push his persona too hard; perhaps he could make him see the light through a gentle nudge.

"You should know that a woman would never allow herself to be manipulated to thinking she loved a man she did not," he stated, "some foolish women might, but Kaoru is not one of them; you said yourself that Kaoru was not a foolish girl. Can you not see this?"

The conscience of Kenshin expected his persona to give an easy answer: a yes. And he almost did. Kenshin looked like he was going to give his answer, the answer of undying love for this girl. But he saw his persona's heart cowarded out as his face contorted when he gave the same foolish answer.

"N-no! This one cannot see what is not there!" he said in hopes of finalizing the conversation between him and his conscience. He said it with anger, false confidence, his heart fully aware that he was lying to himself while saying this. Kenshin stood tall, but his muscles faultered along with his confidence. His conscience knew very well that he was at the brink of confessing - albeit his resistance would prolong the growing pain that threatened to swallow him and hurt her - and he had just about enough of it. He would make his foolish persona see the light.

"So I see," the conscience began, gathering his reproaches and shaming acussations. From the tone of his voice - calm, relaxed, but presaging - Kenshin's glands released a single drop of sweat, and his conscience was aware of this. And so he started to circle his persona, and he began.

"I suppose that you could believe that you cannot see anything, and therefore, cannot love Kaoru," he stopped, turning to face Kenshin completely, "or, maybe you are in denial. Because you know that if you do confess, she will never accept you, especially now that she knows that you were once a cold-blooded killer."

Kenshin glared, but his conscience added, "actually, I suppose that you still are. Your reaction to those slave traders and to Saito seems to fit that of a murderer, not a gentle, wandering naturalists that you've dressed yourself up as."

"You don't know anything," Kenshin said in a low voice, trying to give off the impression of being threatening and unaffected instead of annoyed, anxious - scared? Even, ashamed? Still, his conscience presented a sinister smirk as he pressed forth.

"Do I? I'm your conscience, remember stupid man? I know everything you know, including the faces of all of those who died at your blade... Surprising that a pure girl such as Kaoru would have fallen for someone with a bleak, bloody history such as yourself, don't you think?"

"Stop."

"Hmmm. Maybe it's not that, perhaps. Maybe you're just scared that if you do confess - and if Kaoru accepts you - her family will come and take her away from you forever."

"Enough," Kenshin seethed.

"Yeah! Maybe that's it! They certainly wouldn't trust you, or her, since the two of you have been living together in close quarters, so you could forget about them allowing you to propose to her. I guess her parents would assume that she has been tainted, spoiling their whole dowry if they had one, so they'd probably send her off to be a servent for some wealthy family, or sell her to the red light district if they were that desperate -"

"Shut up." Kenshin meant to say this with more anger, but it came out almost helplessly...

"But no matter the scenario, you would be left alone in the end. All alone. No one to talk to you, no one to hold you, no one to care for you, no one to love-"

"Shut up!"

"-all alone like you were from the beginning. Face it: you were _destined_ to be lonely and miserable, Hitokiri Battousai."

"SHUT UP!!" Kenshin screamed with all of his might, trembling the atmosphere of the void that surrounded the two entities. His conscience stop just in time to see his persona collapse pathetically onto the ground, breathing heavily, muscles contracting as he trembled for breath, holding his head while his hair flayed this way and that against his bare skin. He could have sworn that he heard him crying in confusion and fear. Had he pushed too far? Perhaps. But this was what he wanted from his persona. Now all he had to do was speak.

After a few moments, a few shaky breathes later, Kenshin spoke from beneath his bangs, still holding his head as if it would fall tumbling down.

"You win," he said, voice clear of emotions. "I love her. I love Kaoru. She's my world now." The sentence take an entire breath out of him, so he gulped and breathed before he continued. "I don't want her to leave me, ever... I want her to stay with me." His conscience's eyes finally softened from their hardened look at hearing his persona's confession. Then, he saw his hand clench and body shiver once more.

"But-" Kenshin began, trying to contain his breaking voice by pausing, "-we cannot be together. No matter how much I love her, we can never be..."

Utter silence fell in the void while the persona of Kenshin kneeled on the ground, and his conscience just watched his form. Afterwards, all his conscience said was:

"Does your heart always believe what your head tells you?"

As his words echoed in his mind, Kenshin looked up, only to see that his surroundings were that of the bathhouse, his conscience nowhere in sight. Was that real? Did all that had just transpired really happen, or was Kenshin hallucinating, possibly from his troubled thoughts and heart? Kenshin kneeled up, shaking his head and rubbing the water from his face and bangs. Even if his confrontation with his inner being was an illusion, he had remembered everything, including his confession.

He loved Kaoru.

But, could they really be together, even with his past?

Drying off, Kenshin dressed in a thick, plain white yukata, and proceeded toward exiting the bathhouse and heading toward the cabin.

Tonight, he would tell Kaoru everything.

* * *

By the time Kenshin came back to the cabin, Kaoru had already roused from her stupor, eyes dried for the time being. She had undressed and put on a thick yukata, just like him. It had gotten so cold in the past two weeks, almost as if a sign of the turbulations settling between them.

She sat beside her futon, which she had put out in preparation for sleep, and from look of sadness on her countenance, Kaoru was hoping to have gone under the sheets before Kenshin arrived. It pained him to see Kaoru so sad and hurt, all because of him. He attempted to speak to her.

"Kaoru-dono?" he began, continuing to his the formality which separated them. "Have you eaten anything?"

"I'm not very hungry," Kaoru responded passively, quietly.

Kenshin frowned. He had noticed her eating patterns for the past week: only niblets here and there. She was hurting, yes, but that was no excuse for her to put her health at risk, especially now that she had a greater potential of catching a cold in this chilly weather.

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said in a stern voice, "you've been skipping meals for the past three days. You need to eat in order to keep your strength up, and-"

"I'm not hungry!" she repeated, this time in a harsher tone. Kaoru had noticed her tone of voice as soon as she said it, and she immediately had a shameful face. "I... I'm sorry, Kenshin. I didn't mean to sound so harsh," she apologized. She began to get up, preparing to leave and go - probably to the bathhouse for escapism - but was stopped by Kenshin. He guided her down, onto the futon, holding her hands. Once they were settled, Kaoru noticed their connecting hands, the warmth that flowed from him to her, but she pulled them away. She looked up, only to see Kenshin's sad smile.

"Kaoru-dono," he said, this time as gentle as a feather on the skin, "whatever is the matter? It is not in your nature to be like this, so distant. Please, tell me."

Kaoru's lip trembled at his plea. She didn't mean to make Kenshin suffer in return, even if he was the cause of her suffering.

"I just, haven't been feeling too well is all... It must be because of the weather."

Kenshin sighed at her answer, still sporting the sad smile. "Yes, that might be a cause," he said, trailing his eyes down to their disconnected hands. "But the weather has been fluctuating for almost three weeks now, and you just started skipping meals entirely three days ago."

Kaoru flinched at his accurate observation in shame. They tried to make as little contact as possible in these two weeks, but he still looked after her and noticed. Suprisingly, Kaoru felt Kenshin's fingers beneath her chin, tilting her head up so he could look at her. They stared at each other, violet to blue, for the first time in so long, even longer than three weeks. They both noticed the sadness in each other's eyes, but there was more to tell. In his eyes lay secrets, memories, anguish; in hers, distrust, hurt, uncertainty.

"Kaoru," he said, without honorific, suprising them both, but neither seemed to care at the moment, "what is wrong?"

As Kaoru thought for an acceptable answer, she gulped nervously. How could she tell him what was wrong, if he was the reason for her glum? But, she didn't want to hurt him on purpose. She didn't know what to say, how to say it.

"Please, Kaoru. Tell me."

At that, Kaoru began to speak, though her lips noticably trembled when she split them. "W-well," she said, her voice quivering, "w-why am I the one who has to do all of the talking?"

Kenshin's eye's widened slightly at her tone, her statement. Confusion sparked, since those were not the words that he expected to hear from Kaoru's lips. As Kaoru's brow slightly furrowed, Kenshin said, "This one does not follow you, Kaoru-dono."

She didn't want to speak anymore, she was afraid too. Kaoru was hoping that he would get the picture or stop asking her. But since he did, she had to.

"It's just... you've never speak to me about yourself, as a friend or-" Kaoru stopped herself before she finished the sentence, which would have led to a fresh scar on her heart. She had meant to say "lover", but she knew that bond never existed between the both of them. She felt the warmness of the tears in her eyelids, but she stopped them.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru-dono. I never meant to make you upset, but it's complicated. It was far too complicated to tell you in your state of mind. I felt that you couldn't handle anything on such a level, especially from a stranger when you had amnesia. Don't you undertand where I am coming from?" Kenshin filled in. He allowed his hand to leave her chin in order to drift down to her folded hands. On cue, her hands clenched under his, and he felt the tension.

"Y-yes," she admitted, her voice still breaking. "But don't _you _understand that I'm not weak and feeble like I was when you first found me? I've been living with you for over one season now, and during those months, I've grown stronger. I feel capable of taking any news that you tell me." Kaoru turned her head downward, and looked at their hands, which were now together once again. Seeing them so calm and warm to the touch, she unclenched her hands and tied her pinky around his.

"And-" she spoke, her voice as shaky as ever because she felt as if she were about to cry again, "I want to know everything about you."

A single tear dropping onto his hand was all that was needed to make the walls around Kenshin's heart crumble completely. He was adamant about telling her about his past at first, but secretly, he wanted to avoid hurting her anyway possible. He didn't know if what he was about to tell her would make her or break her, and he didn't want to take that risk. But after what Kaoru told him - he finally realized. He had not talked to anyone in nearly sixty years on this level, not even to Ousugi-dono, whom he had known since she was only a child. He had no one to talk to, partially because he never got connected to anyone, but more because he could never find anyone. No one wanted him. He had been alone all of these long decades, and out of the blue, there was Kaoru. Kenshin finally realized that Kaoru was a blessing to him, someone he could talk to, furthermost, protect. He believed that under whatever circumstance for her mysterious and tragic arrival, she was meant to come to him; he was meant to find her. Kaoru was the most important to him.

But could she handle what was about to be told to her? Could they be together, which his mind firmly disagreeded with when conflicting with his heart, after this? She had to know; he had to take this one risk.

"Very well, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin finalized, almost too softly, as if he were unsure about what he was about to do. Kaoru raised her head, a smile on her face for the first time in two weeks, albeit tears were in her eyes. Automatically, Kenshin's heart lightened at her smile, but weakened at the tears. He wanted to kiss the tears from her eyes, one tear at a time, but all he allowed himself to do was to wipe the falling tears from her cheeks with his index finger. After that, he would begin, in for a long evening.

He cleared his throat, a few times more than he intended. Kaoru waited patiently, but he felt her anxious ki, desperate for him to tell him his story. It made him anxious as well, anxious enough to feel his voice being lost in his throat. Eventually, he found it, and breathed deeply before he began his long, tragic history.

"Firstly, I must tell you, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin began, solemn expression on the outside, but a swirl of nervousness and anguish on the inside, for what he was about to say next.

"That I have been decieving you, for this one is not a human being."

* * *

A/n:

Whew. That was a long update. I've been working on this since school let out for the semester. Hope now I'll be able to work on "Viscid" and "An Unkept Memory" now. But consider this a very late holiday gift. Happy belated Holiday Season!

Now, no offense to the fans of Beauty and Battousai, but I'm really out of it when it comes to that story in comparison to River of Stars.

I just **love **this story.

And it's not entirely the writing part that I like. It's more of the research. I love researching this tale. One legend always leads to another. When I first heard about The Princess and the Cowherder, I looked up the term "nymph" (I never did before then) to read more about the folklore around these lead to learning about water nymphs, who are commonly associated with mermaids. Mermaids then lead to selkies (which, btw, there is a really beautiful RK fic titled "Seal Skin" by LadyShiin. I suggest you read it), swan maidens, nixs... I just learned about this whole new motif about the legend. Whether the legends of a maiden's decent toward earth, or a being who can transform between woman and animal, they all center around the same basic plot: a woman is in possession of a supernatural garment, and if a man finds it, she has to become his wife, but if does find her garment, she leaves. They all just fascinate me, and it reminds you - and makes you wonder - where these legends originated from to make them so globally known (these supernatural robe tales are seriously found all over the world. On just about all seven continents, the people have their own telling of the tales, much like how the phoenix and the dragon-like creatures are a common folkloric accurence).

In my selfish desires and honesty, I hope that this story will grab some more popularity, now that I have released some other one-shots and short stories.

I'm sorry, but there will be no further mention of Shishio in this particular fanfic (or, he won't be making and cameos in this fanfic). I just thought I'd like to say that so I wouldn't give any of your hopes up.

And, don't start asking for a sequel. It's too early for that.

I feel stupid saying this, but, I don't know what to classify Saito and Katsura as. They're not gods, and they are a type of fae (or "kami" if I am to relate to Shintoism), but I don't know which one exactly. I think I'm going to have to take a trip to the bookstore to buy an encyclopedia of mythological creatures, so expect an update to the chapter.

Some clarification defs. Anima, Persona, Conscience. So, the persona of a person is what we see on the outside; in Kenshin's case, it's, well, Kenshin. Lovable, goofy, clumsy-go-"oro!" Kenshin. Kenshin's anima, however, would be his alter ego, Battousai: Mean, serious, deadly, and damned seductive. Or maybe, Battousai makes up half of Kenshin's anima. Maybe it is Kenshin's conscience - the part of him that consists of his sense of justice and to protect the weak from harm - that makes up the other fraction of his anima. But, I'm still figuring out if your conscience is necessarily the same as your anima. Your anima is the personality within you, while your conscience is your sense morality. But, your sense of morality _could _make up your inner personality, can't it? And alter-ego is your second half, which in this case, is Battousai. So, is your alter ego the same as your anima? (But it can't be since your alter ego is shown but your anima is within you. Or maybe your anima turns into your alter ego when it emerges as the alternate persona.) Ugh! Mind boggling! .

Okay, so maybe I didn't clarify matters. Only made them more confusing.

Oh well. Anyway, the answer to my little quiz question from last chapter is - dun dun dun dun!: **I never mentioned Kenshin's cruciform scar.** Actually, to be totally honest, I screwed with you a little. I asked that question, and right afterwards, I noticed that I did put that fact in the first battle scene with the slave traders. I don't know why I did. I mean, Kenshin seems to always have the scar in most fanfics, as if he was born with the damned thing, so I naturally - and automatically - included it. So, that meant that "Oh! Tomoe gave him that scar, didn't she?" to you guys, right? And all I can say is "NO"... 'Cause he doesn't have the scar. ;) So, I deleted that part, so now you'll have to go back to Kenshin's first appearance, erase the scar, and continue forth. Sorry. But you all get a hug anyway! :)

So yeah. Expect lemon/lime in the chapter (or may chapters) to come. (Heh heh...)

Adieu.


End file.
